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PRINCETON,  N.  J. 


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Division 


Section  * 


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THE  OLD  AND  THE  NEW  JAPAN  CONTRASTED 
A modern  train  on  the  Imperial  railways  at  the  foot  of  the  ancient  and  sacred  Mount  huji 


JAPAN 

IN  TRANSITION 


A COMPARATIVE  STUDY  OF  THE  PROGRESS 
POLICY,  AND  METHODS  OF  THE  JAPANESE 
SINCE  THEIR  WAR  WITH  CHINA 


BY 

STAFFORD  RANSOME 


MEMBER  OF  THE  INSTITUTION  OF  CIVIL  ENGINEERS;  RECENTLY 
SPECIAL  CORRESPONDENT  OF  THE  MORNING  POST 
IN  THE  FAR  EAST 


WITH  FOUR  SPECIAL  MAPS  BY  THE  AUTHOR 
AND  ILLUSTRATIONS 


NEW  YORK  AND  LONDON 
HARPER  & BROTHERS  PUBLISHERS 
1 8 9 9 


CONTENTS 


CHAP.  PAGE 

Introduction ix 

I.  Popular  Misconceptions  of  Japan i 

II.  Travelling  and  Accommodation 16 

III.  The  Standing  of  the  Foreigner 46 

IV.  Present  Day  Education 62 

V.  The  New  School  of  Drama 86 

VI.  The  Position  and  Prospects  of  Christianity 99 

VII.  The  Moral  Standard 115 

VIII.  The  Commercial  Integrity  of  the  Japanese 128 

IX.  International  Business  Relations 145 

X.  Modern  Industrial  Japan 163 

XI.  The  Effect  of  the  War  on  Foreign  Relations  . . . 179 

XII.  Politics  in  the  Past  and  Present 191 

XIII.  Outline  of  Strategical  Geography 205 

XIV.  The  Question  of  Colonization 217 

XV.  Japan  as  an  Ally 238 

XVI.  Our  Prospects  under  the  Revised  Treaties 250 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


PAGE 

THE  OLD  AND  THE  NEW  JAPAN  CONTRASTED Frontispiece 

A GEISHA  AT  HOME Facing  p.  4 

A GEISHA  ORCHESTRA “ 6 

A TOKIO  DANCING-GIRL “ 8 

THE  JAPANESE  BATTLE-SHIP  SHIKISHIMA  ......  “ 12 

A SNAP-SHOT  IN  A VILLAGE  STREET “ 20 

THE  REMAINS  OF  THE  VILLAGE  OF  SHIMIDZU  AFTER') 

A FLOOD L . “ 24 

HAKODATE  HARBOR,  IN  THE  HOKKAIDO J 

A JAPANESE  HOTEL,  INTERIOR “ 26 

A TEA-HOUSE,  INTERIOR “ 28 

COUNT  OKUMA “ 60 

VISCOUNT  YOZO  YAMAO* “ 64 

THE  ENGINEERING  COLLEGE  OF  THE  IMPERIAL  UNI-' 

VERSITY  OF  TOKIO* 

v.  . “ 70 

THE  LAW  COLLEGE  AND  LIBRARY  OF  THE  IMPERIAL 

UNIVERSITY  OF  TOKIO* 

THE  SCIENCE  COLLEGE  OF  THE  IMPERIAL  UNIVERSITY  'j 

OF  TOKIO* 

IN  THE  QUADRANGLE  OF  THE  ENGINEERING  COLLEGE  j ^ 

OF  THE  IMPERIAL  UNIVERSITY  OF  TOKIO*  J 
MR.  FUKASAWA  YAKICHI ) 

• 78 

KAWAKAMI  OTOJIRO ) 

A GROUP  OF  ENGINEERING  STUDENTS  AT  THE  IMPERIAL 

UNIVERSITY  OF  TOKIO*  .......  “ 82 

ICHIKAWA  DANJURO “ 88 

DANJURO  AS  THE  CHIEF  OF  THE  FORTY-SEVEN  RONINS  . . “ 94 

ACTRESS  IN  OLD-STYLE  PLAY “ 96 

GIRLS  IN  GARDEN “ Il6 


V 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


: :l 


LADY  PLAYING  THE  KOTO 

AN  ACTOR  DRESSED  AS  A YOSHIWARA  WOMAN 

TREATY-PORT  GIRLS 

PONTA,  A TOKIO  GEISHA 

THE  OFFICES  OF  THE  DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE  AND 

COMMERCE* 

H.I.H.  THE  LATE  PRINCE  SANJO  . . . 

VISCOUNT  YENOMOTO 

BARON  ITO 

BARON  NISHI 

SHIMBASHI  RAILWAY  STATION,  TOKIO  . 

MITSU  BISHI  BANK 

THE  NAGASAKI  SHIP-BUILDING  WORKS 
H.I.H.  THE  LATE  PRINCE  ARISUGAWA 

THE  MARQUIS  ITO 

THE  LATE  LIEUTENANT-GENERAL  YAMAJI 

COUNT  ITAGAKI 

COUNT  INOUYE  

OFFICE  OF  THE  KOKUMIN  SHIMBUN  ( THE  NA  TION , 
DAILY  PAPER),  TOKIO  . . 

THE  OFFICE  OF  THE  NICHI  NICHI  SHIMBUN  (DA  Y-BV 
DA  V NEWSPAPER),  TOKIO  . . 

H.I.H.  THE  LATE  PRINCE  KITASHIRAKAWA 

COUNT  MATSUKATA 

THE  MARQUIS  SAIGO 

VISCOUNT  YOSHIKAWA 

ADMIRAL  NIREI 

MARSHAL  OYAMA I 

OFFICES  OF  THE  GENERAL  STAFF  OF  THE  ARMY,  TOKIO 
THE  IMPERIAL  NAVAL  DOCKYARD,  YOKOSUKA*  . . 

THE  NAGASAKI  DOCK 

JAPANESE  MOUNTAIN  ARTILLERY  APPROACHING  PORT 
THUR  DURING  THE  WAR  WITH  CHINA 

VISCOUNT  KATSURA 

MARSHAL  NOZU 

OLD  - STYLE  WARFARE  (TWELFTH  CENTURY).  TAKEDA 
SHINGEN  ATTACKING  MOUNT  MINOBU  . . . . 


: : :i 


AR 


Fac 


ngp.  Il8 


I! 

120 

122 

124 

164 

166 

168 

170 

176 

180 

184 

188 

I96 

I98 

200 

202 

204 

206 

208 

210 

214 

238 

244 

248 


Note. — The  Illustrations  marked*  have  been  reproduced  by  the  permission  of  the  editor 
of  the  Engineer. 


SPECIAL  MAPS 

PREPARED  BY  THE  AUTHOR 

EDUCATIONAL  SKETCH  MAP Facmg  fi.  70 

STRATEGICAL  SKETCH  MAP  . . “ 198 

SKETCH  MAP  REFERRING  TO  THE  COLONIAL  PROSPECTS  OF  JAPAN  . . 225 

EMPIRE  OF  JAPAN At  end  of  book 


INTRODUCTION 


There  are  three  distinct  Japans  in  existence  side 
by  side  to-day — the  old  Japan,  which  has  not  wholly 
died  out;  the  new  Japan,  which  as  yet  has  hardly 
been  born,  except  in  the  spirit;  and  the  transition 
Japan,  which  is  passing  through  its  most  critical 
throes  just  now. 

Every  one  of  the  three  affords  an  extremely  diffi- 
cult study ; and,  of  them  all,  that  which  is  the  sub- 
ject of  this  book  is  perhaps  the  most  complicated. 

The  old  Japan,  in  practically  all  its  phases,  has 
been  thoroughly  thrashed  out  by  many  competent 
writers,  several  of  whom  are  recognized  authorities 
upon  the  subject;  and  had  the  Japan  of  to-day 
received  the  same  careful  consideration  and  able 
handling  as  the  Japan  of  the  past,  there  would  be 
but  little  reason  for  bringing  out  this  book. 

It  is  true  that  certain  of  the  writers  on  the  old 
Japan  have  added,  in  the  recent  editions  of  their 
books,  chapters  touching  on  the  more  modern  as- 
pects of  the  country.  But  the  alterations  in  Japan- 
ese methods  have  been  so  marked  that  it  is  impos- 
sible to  exhaust  the  subject  satisfactorily  in  that  way. 


IX 


INTRODUCTION 


Vastly  interesting  as  is  the  old  Japan,  transition 
Japan  is,  in  its  way,  hardly  less  so,  though  possibly 
the  subject  may  appeal  to  a different  reading  public. 
But  the  two  are  so  completely  distinct  that,  in  order 
to  do  justice  to  the  one  or  to  the  other,  they  must 
be  treated  separately. 

The  process  of  transition  has  been  so  abrupt  that 
the  reader  is  shocked  when,  at  the  end  of  a bulky 
volume,  dealing  with  Daimios,  flower  ceremonies, 
cherry  blossoms,  tea-gardens,  and  temples,  he  finds 
these  subjects  suddenly  replaced  by  modern  ord- 
nance, railways,  international  politics,  electricity, 
and  merchant  firms.  The  contrast  is  too  striking 
to  be  either  artistic  or  satisfactory. 

On  the  subject  of  all  matters  Japanese  the  local 
foreigners  resident  in  Japan  are  so  clearly  divided 
into  two  camps  that  there  is  always  an  endeavor  to 
class  a writer  on  Japan  in  one  of  two  categories. 
He  is  stated  either  to  be  “pro-Japanese”  or  “anti- 
Japanese.”  If  an  author  allows  a knowledge  of  that 
fact  to  affect  his  writings,  his  book  is  bound  to  be 
colorless.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  he  steers  his  own 
course,  and  in  dealing  with  his  subject  frankly  gives 
his  impressions  for  what  they  are  worth,  he  is  bound 
to  say  something  from  time  to  time  to  which  certain 
people  may  take  exception  ; for  if  a particular  point 
of  view  should  meet  with  the  approval  of  one  sec- 
tion of  the  community,  another  section  will  certain- 
ly disapprove  of  it. 

I have  adopted  the  latter  alternative  in  writing 
this  book — that  is  to  say,  I have  given  my  own 


X 


INTRODUCTION 


opinions  without  any  attempt  at  hedging ; and  while 
I sometimes  have  had  occasion  to  quote  other  writers 
either  for  the  purpose  of  accentuating  a theory  or  a 
fact,  or  of  explaining  the  manner  in  which  my  own 
opinions  differ  from  theirs,  I have  done  so  with  all 
due  deference  to  their  point  of  view. 

So  much  has  been  written  of  one  sort  and  another 
about  Japan  that  a writer,  in  almost  everything  he 
says,  is  likely  to  be  plagiarizing  or  contradicting  one 
or  another  authority;  and  in  endeavoring  to  throw 
light  on  the  chaotic  problem  of  Japanese  methods 
his  book  is  almost  bound  to  appear  somewhat  con- 
troversial and  argumentative. 

Japan  in  Transition  is  merely,  as  its  name  im- 
plies, a book  dealing  with  the  changes  which  are 
going  on  in  the  country  just  now;  and  I describe  it 
by  the  sub-title  as  being  “ a Comparative  Study  of 
the  Progress,  Policy,  and  Methods  of  the  Japanese 
since  their  War  with  China,”  not  because  compari- 
sons are  made  between  the  Japan  of  to-day  and  the 
Japan  of  the  past;  for  in  cases  where  contrasts  of 
that  sort  have  a place  in  this  book  they  are  only  in- 
cidental. The  comparisons  made  are  between  the 
methods  of  the  Japanese  to-day  and  the  methods  of 
the  people  in  other  countries,  in  view  of  the  fact  that 
Japan  is  endeavoring  to  bring  herself  into  line  with 
the  most  advanced  nations  of  the  earth. 

In  drawing  these  comparisons,  I have  not  imag- 
ined an  ideal  Englishman,  an  ideal  Frenchman,  or 
an  ideal  American,  nor  a combined  ideal  made  up 
of  the  three;  I have  not  taken  for  granted  an  as- 


XI 


INTRODUCTION 


sumption  that  we  all  act  up  to  our  theoretical  stand- 
ards of  probity,  morality,  and  enlightenment ; nor, 
in  cases  where  Japanese  methods  deviate  from  our 
own,  that  such  deviations  must  necessarily  place  the 
Japanese  in  the  wrong.  I have  endeavored  to  con- 
trast and  compare  the  ordinary  methods  of  the 
modern  Japanese  with  the  ordinary  methods  of  the 
men  one  finds  elsewhere  in  the  civilized  world. 

I cannot  claim  that  my  book  is  the  result  of  a so- 
journ of  many  years  in  the  country,  as  I lived  in 
Japan  for  less  than  two  years  (part  of  1896,  and  the 
whole  of  1897).  That  time,  however,  was  a very 
critical  epoch  for  the  people  of  Japan,  in  that  the 
national  delirium  which  inevitably  follows  a success- 
ful war  was  gradually  subsiding,  and  the  country  on 
its  new  lines,  and  endowed  with  its  well  earned  but 
newly  born  prestige,  was  beginning  to  feel  its  feet. 

When  living  in  the  country  I held  a mixed  man- 
date from  two  journals — the  Morning  Post,  for  which 
I. had  to  write  a series  of  articles  on  “Japan  Since 
the  War,”  dealing  with  the  effect  of  the  war  on  that 
country  politically  and  socially;  and  the  Engineer , 
in  the  columns  of  which  I was  pointing  out  the  en- 
gineering and  industrial  progress  of  Japan.  The 
present  book  summarizes,  in  a form  less  ephemeral 
than  must  be  adopted  in  journalism,  the  impressions 
which  I received  during  the  time  I was  carrying  on 
that  work. 

In  Japan  in  Transition  I have  naturally  had  to 
go  over  a great  deal  of  the  ground  covered  by  my 
former  articles ; and,  by  the  courtesy  of  the  Editor 

xii 


INTRODUCTION 


of  the  Morning  Post , I have  been  allowed  to  draw 
somewhat  freely  on  three  of  my  articles  on  “Japan 
Since  the  War”  in  writing  the  chapters  on  Politics, 
Morals,  and  the  Drama. 

I have  to  thank  the  Editor  of  the  Engineer  for 
allowing  me  to  use  certain  photographs — notably 
those  representing  the  Yokosuka  Dock-yard,  a group 
of  students,  and  the  Educational  Buildings  of  the 
Imperial  University — which  served  to  illustrate  cer- 
tain of  my  articles  in  that  journal. 

To  my  friend  Professor  C.  D.  West,  of  the  Im- 
perial University,  I am  indebted  for  several  of  the 
photographs  used  in  illustrating  this  book  ; as  also 
to  Mr.  Y.  Fukai,  of  the  Kokumin  Shimbun , who  pro- 
cured for  me  many  of  the  portraits  which  appear  in 
these  pages. 

I would  also  take  this  opportunity  of  thanking 
my  many  friends,  both  European  and  Japanese,  who 
so  kindly  assisted  me  with  their  advice  when  I was 
working  up  my  subject  in  that  country. 

Of  that  subject  I can  only  say,  speaking  as  one 
whose  branch  of  journalism  has  nearly  always  been 
that  of  a foreign  correspondent,  and  whose  particu- 
lar work  has  usually  had  to  do  with  the  investigation 
and  summing  up  of  complicated  situations  in  various 
parts  of  the  world,  that  Japan,  at  any  time,  is  as 
difficult  a country  to  write  about  as  one  can  find, 
and  that  the  existing  conditions  of  that  country 
render  the  task  of  giving  a satisfactory  account  of 
it  especially  arduous. 

As  the  chapters  in  this  book  deal  with  so  wide  a 

xiii 


INTRODUCTION 


range  of  subjects,  and  as  all  sorts  of  side  issues  come 
into  the  question  from  time  to  time,  it  is,  perhaps, 
well  briefly  to  summarize  here  the  line  of  argument 
taken  in  this  book.  I am  a firm  believer  in  the 
solid  nature  of  the  modern  progress  made  by  the 
Japanese — politically,  commercially,  and  industrially. 
Socially  speaking,  I think  their  old  methods  suited 
them  better  than  those  imported  from  the  West. 
Their  moral  instincts,  though  not  based  at  all  on 
Western  theories,  are  not,  as  a rule,  of  a lower  order 
than  the  average  standard  of  the  European  nations. 
They  are,  as  a rule,  lacking  in  that  quality  known  as 
modern  business  integrity ; but  I think  this  is  large- 
ly due  to  a misconception  as  to  the  fundamental 
principles  which  guide  the  conduct  of  modern 
business. 

In  the  ordinary  transactions  of  life,  at  all  events 
away  from  the  treaty  - ports,  the  Japanese  are  still 
particularly  honest,  even  when  dealing  with  for- 
eigners. 

I think  that  in  spite  of  certain  failings,  pointed 
out  in  due  course  in  this  book,  the  politicians  of 
Japan,  generally  speaking,  and  particularly  those 
who  are  at  the  head  of  affairs,  keep  their  hands 
cleaner  than  do  their  confreres  in  many  of  the  coun- 
tries which  boast  of  a higher  civilization. 

I believe  that,  so  far  as  the  interests  of  various 
countries  can  be  the  same,  those  of  Great  Britain, 
the  United  States,  and  Japan  are,  and  must  be,  for 
many  years  to  come,  identical  so  far  as  a Far  East- 
ern policy  is  concerned ; for  those  three  Powers  are 


XIV 


INTRODUCTION 


alone  in  disapproving  of  the  dismemberment  of 
China,  and  in  respecting  international  law  in  that 
part  of  the  world. 

A triple  alliance  of  these  three  nations  would  be 
invaluable  in  the  interests  of  Far  Eastern  commerce 
and  peace ; and  there  is  no  doubt  that  we  should 
find  in  the  Japanese  not  only  efficient  but  perfectly 
honorable  allies. 

I consider  the  most  marked  trait  in  the  Japanese 
character  to  be  their  feverish  anxiety  to  acquire,  and 
wonderful  capacity  for  absorbing,  knowledge  of  any 
sort ; and  I take  a more  optimistic  view  than  many 
well-known  authorities  with  regard  to  their  capabili- 
ties for  giving  practical  effect  to  such  knowledge. 

Certain  writers,  presumably  basing  their  stand- 
point on  the  many  mistakes  made  by  the  Japanese 
in  the  application  of  their  modern  methods,  have 
often  assumed  that  the  Japanese  are  not  so  efficient 
in  practice  as  they  are  in  theory.  This  is  so  at  the 
present  day.  I do  not  think,  however,  that  practical 
capacity  is  wanting,  but  rather  that,  at  their  present 
educational  stage,  they  have  not  been  able  to  give  as 
much  attention  to  the  practical  side  of  their  mod- 
ern training  as  to  the  theoretical. 

In  the  rush  for  modern  knowledge  it  was  a ques- 
tion, not  as  to  what  would  be  the  best  subjects  to 
devote  their  attention  to,  but  as  to  which  among 
those  subjects  could  be  omitted  with  the  least  in- 
convenience ; consequently,  practice  has  been  tem- 
porarily shelved  in  favor  of  the  headlong  pursuit  of 
theory. 


XV 


INTRODUCTION 


The  Japanese  are  credited,  and  possibly  with  per- 
fect justice,  with  possessing  the  quality  of  self-con- 
fidence to  a somewhat  exaggerated  degree.  Well, 
assuming  that  such  is  the  case,  I do  not  think  that 
we  can  logically  censure  them  on  this  account.  For, 
after  all,  self-confidence  is  a good  old  Anglo-Saxon 
vice,  and  it  is  to  be  presumed  that  neither  English- 
men nor  Americans  would  be  unjust  enough  to 
maintain  that  it  was  precisely  their  lack  of  this  par- 
ticular characteristic  that  has  enabled  them  to  make 
of  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States  the  two  most 
progressive  and  industrially  important  countries  in 
the  world. 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 


JAPAN 

IN  TRANSITION 


CHAPTER  I 

POPULAR  MISCONCEPTIONS  OF  JAPAN 

There  is  perhaps  no  country  in  the  world  which 
has  been  more  misrepresented  by  the  foreigner  to 
the  foreigner  than  has  the  Land  of  the  Rising  Sun, 
and  the  reasons  for  this  are  very  obvious.  Japan  is 
at  once  the  most  difficult  country  to  analyze  accu- 
rately, and  the  most  easy  to  write  about  superficially. 

The  journalist  who,  after  a six  hours’  sojourn 
there,  has  not  already  been  able  to  find  something 
which  would  pass  muster  as  interesting  “copy,” 
must  indeed  be  a poor  hand  at  his  trade ; though 
whether  articles  written  under  such  conditions  are 
likely  to  be  of  any  value  to  the  student  is  a matter 
of  conjecture. 

Japan  appears  to  exercise  some  mysterious  in- 
fluence which  not  only  attracts  the  pen  of  the  ama- 
teur, but  which  seems  to  have  the  effect  of  drawing 
the  professional  writer  out  of  his  legitimate  element. 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 


Thus  the  poet,  on  arriving  in  that  country,  suddenly 
becomes  an  exponent  of  character;  the  theatrical 
critic  a censor  of  morals ; the  religious  tract-maker 
an  authority  on  art;  and  the  compiler  of  railway 
“ puffs  ” a novelist. 

Some  of  the  books  thus  turned  out  have  occa- 
sionally been  interesting  enough  to  readers  who 
have  no  knowledge  of  the  country;  and,  as  occasion- 
ally the  writers  in  question  have  been  well  known  in 
other  spheres  of  literature,  their  books  have  some- 
times met  with  a more  ready  sale  than  has  been  the 
case  with  many  of  the  valuable  works  written  by  real 
students  of  Japan. 

Under  such  circumstances  it  is  only  natural  that 
foreigners  generally  should  often  imbibe  weird  and 
distorted  notions  with  regard  to  the  Japanese  char- 
acter; and  the  more  especially  as  these  writers  have 
frequently  based  their  notions  of  Japan  and  the 
Japanese  on  what  they  have  seen  in  the  treaty-ports. 

Now  life  in  the  treaty-ports  is  so  absolutely  unlike 
the  life  in  any  other  parts  of  the  country  that  hardly 
any  particulars  of  the  former  will  be  likely  to  hold 
good  with  regard  to  the  latter.  It  would  be  just  as 
reasonable  to  describe  a book  dealing  with  “ life  in 
Gibraltar  ” as  an  exhaustive  treatise  on  Spain,  as  it 
is,  when  reading  books  about  treaty-port  doings,  to 
accept  them  as  throwing  any  light  whatever  on  Japan 
proper. 

Treaty-port  people,  and  especially  treaty-port  jour- 
nals, tell  us  that  all  Japanese  are  bad.  Well,  once 
upon  a time  a very  learned  monarch  said  in  his  wrath 


2 


POPULAR  MISCONCEPTIONS  OF  JAPAN 


that  all  men  were  liars;  and  it  is  probable  that  the 
one  sweeping  statement  is  as  accurate  as  the  other ; 
for  the  treaty-port  resident  is  in  a continual  state  of 
wrath,  or  rather  of  irritation,  with  regard  to  Japanese 
matters.  His  interests  in  the  country  being,  as  a 
rule,  purely  of  a commercial  nature,  he  is  naturally 
somewhat  sore  when  he  finds  that  the  new  gener- 
ation of  Japanese  are  increasingly  able  to  carry  on 
their  trade  without  his  assistance.  For  there  is  no 
doubt  that  the  treaty-port  foreigner  in  days  gone  by 
created  and  built  up  the  international  trade  of  the 
country;  and  he  is  perhaps  right  in  his  estimate  of 
the  treaty-port  Japanese  with  whom  he  comes  in  daily 
contact. 

In  order  to  understand  the  position,  let  us  try  and 
imagine  that  there  is  established  in  England  a treaty- 
port,  say  at  Wapping  Old  Stairs,  or  other  conven- 
ient locality  for  shipping;  and  that  in  pursuit  of 
their  business  a highly  respectable  class  of  Japanese 
tradesmen  have  established  themselves  there;  that 
they  have  built  their  own  houses,  live  their  own 
lives,  wear  their  own  clothes,  are  under  their  own 
jurisdiction,  and  do  not  bother  to  learn  our  language 
(for  the  treaty-port  foreigner  in  Japan,  with  very 
rare  exceptions,  never  troubles  to  learn  Japanese). 
Let  us  further  assume  that  this  imaginary  Japanese 
community  in  England  are  in  the  habit  of  publish- 
ing daily  newspapers  violently  denouncing  every- 
thing that  is  British,  simply  because  the  methods  of 
the  English  dock-laborers,  cabmen,  interpreters,  and 
runners,  who  hang  around  their  settlement  for  the 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 


purpose  of  getting  what  they  can  out  of  the  resi- 
dents, are  not  particularly  scrupulous  or  high-mind- 
ed. We  should  say  at  once  that  the  criticism  was 
unfair,  and  that  the  Japanese  at  Wapping  were  not 
in  a position  to  form  an  accurate  estimate  of  Eng- 
land and  the  English ; that  they  were  basing  their 
opinions  of  the  former  on  a place  which,  by  reason 
of  its  being  outside  British  jurisdiction,  was  really 
not  England  at  all ; and,  of  the  latter,  on  people  who 
could  not  be  looked  upon  as  representative  speci- 
mens of  English  people  generally.  We  should  add 
that  very  few  respectable  Englishmen,  if  they  could 
afford  to  do  otherwise,  would  care  to  live  in  Wap- 
ping under  treaty-port  conditions,  as  they  would  pre- 
fer residing  among  their  compatriots  in  a part  of 
England  where  extra-territoriality  did  not  exist. 

If  we  transpose  this  picture,  we  shall  find  that  it 
holds  good  in  Japan  to-day.  The  better  class  Jap- 
anese never  live  in  the  treaty-ports  of  that  country 
if  they  can  possibly  do  otherwise.  And  it  is  on  ac- 
count of  all  these  conditions  that  the  treaty-port  es- 
timate of  Japanese  character  and  methods  is  mis- 
leading. 

The  freshly  arrived  foreigner,  however,  is  bound 
to  base  his  first  impressions  of  Japan  on  treaty-port 
surroundings,  as  he  naturally  lands  at  one  or  other 
of  these  places,  and  very  often  practically  gets  no 
farther  during  his  stay;  or,  if  he  does,  his  journeying 
merely  takes  the  form  of  flying  trips  to  the  stere- 
otyped places  in  the  interior,  where  treaty-port  peo- 
ple and  tourists  go ; and  he  gravitates  back  to,  and 


4 


A GEISHA  AT  HOME 


By  the  Genroku-Kwan 


t 


POPULAR  MISCONCEPTIONS  OF  JAPAN 


makes  his  headquarters  within,  concession  limits  in 
one  of  the  coast  towns,  where  he  finds  the  greatest 
number  of  his  countrymen,  the  greatest  selection  of 
Western  amusements,  the  best  quarters,  and  the  best 
food ; and  where,  above  all,  he  can  make  himself 
understood. 

Most  people  who  visit  Japan  arrange  their  sojourn 
in  that  country  on  the  lines  just  described;  and  the 
man  who  does  will  tell  his  friends  his  impressions 
as  seen  through  treaty-port  spectacles.  He  will  say 
that  the  Japanese  are  devoid  of  integrity  and  moral- 
ity ; that  they  are  grasping,  unreliable,  rude,  and  even 
dangerous.  For  he  has  read  this  every  day  in  his 
treaty-port  journal ; and  he  has  been  overcharged  by 
his  treaty-port  rikisha  boy,  who  is  possibly  the  most 
reputable  sample  of  a Japanese  with  whom  he  has 
come  in  contact. 

Another  class  of  foreigner  who  is  apt  to  mislead 
people  at  home  on  the  subject  of  Japan,  but  in  quite 
another  direction,  is  he  who  endeavors  to  “ Japonify  ” 
(I  did  not  invent  that  word)  himself  at  short  notice, 
and  without  being  able  to  speak  the  language.  He 
becomes  enamoured  of  the  country,  and  possibly  of 
some  one  in  it,  and  is  rapturously  maudlin  in  telling 
us  all  about  it. 

To  such  a man  Japan  is  peopled  with  dear  little 
giggling  dolls,  living  in  dear  little  miniature  houses 
made  of  “card-board.”  He  eats  fairy  food  out  of 
miniature  dishes ; hangs  the  graceful  costume  of 
the  country  on  him  as  if  the  kimono  were  a towel 
and  he  a clothes-horse ; he  strains  the  sinews  of  his 


5 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 


legs  in  squatting  on  the  floor,  and  tells  us  that  he 
fears  his  head  would  knock  a hole  in  the  fragile  ceil- 
ing if  he  were  to  stand  upright ; and  so  it  would,  if 
he  were  eight  or  nine  feet  high  and  his  head  were 
not  softer  than  the  wood-work.  He  laughs  in  inno- 
cent glee  at  it  all,  as  he  lets  the  rice  fall  from  his 
chop-sticks  on  to  the  spotless  tatarni,  for  he  is  in  such 
a delightful  little  shallow-minded,  light-hearted  im- 
moral paradise.  He  hugs  himself  in  the  belief  that 
he  is  living  among  laughing  children  again,  and 
he  has  no  thought  for  the  morrow;  for  he  has  not 
grasped  the  fact  that  his  companions  are  bored  with 
it  all,  but  that  etiquette  and  business  exigencies 
oblige  them  to  appear  amused  at  his  eccentricities; 
he  does  not  understand  that,  if  their  laugh  is  genu- 
ine, they  are  laughing  at  him  rather  than  with  him, 
and  that  it  is  he  in  reality  who  is  the  child.  Mean- 
while his  treaty-port  guide  no  doubt  is  making  terms 
with  the  landlady  of  the  “card-board”  house  as  to  the 
extent  to  which  it  will  be  safe  to  run  up  the  bill,  and 
as  to  how  much  commission  is  to  be  reserved  out  of 
that  amount  for  himself. 

The  above  enthusiastic  individual, who  has  solved 
the  Japanese  problem  to  his  own  satisfaction,  will 
tell  us  that  he  has  “ eaten  the  lotus,”  when,  in  plain 
English,  he  has  merely  become  very  silly.  Such  silli- 
ness, however,  is  infectious,  and  his  graphic  recital 
of  what  he  terms  his  “ Adventures  in  the  Land  of 
the  Rising  Sun”  has  often  had  the  effect  of  causing 
others  to  visit  Japan  with  the  express  purpose  of 

endeavoring  to  emulate  him. 

6 


GEISHA  ORCHESTRA 


> 


POPULAR  MISCONCEPTIONS  OF  JAPAN 

Of  the  changes  which  are  taking  place  in  Japan 
people  hold  very  varied  views,  and  all  that  an  indi- 
vidual author  has  a right  or  is  able  to  do  is  to  give 
expression  to  his  own  personal  impressions  on  the 
subject,  and  that  with  all  due  respect  to  the  opinions 
of  others.  Japan,  of  course,  is  being  transformed, 
or,  rather,  is  transforming  herself,  from  her  Oriental 
to  our  Western  methods;  but  this  does  not  mean 
that  the  old  Japan  has  altogether  gone,  or  will 
ever  altogether  go.  I am  aware  that  in  stating 
this  I am  taking  a diametrically  opposite  view  to 
that  held  by  most  of  the  acknowledged  authori- 
ties on  the  country ; but  my  personal  conviction 
is  that  although  Daimios,  Shoguns,  and  feudal- 
ism are  things  of  the  past,  and  although  modern 
education  may  have  shaken  the  beliefs  in  ancient 
superstitions  in  the  minds  of  the  Japanese  of  to-day, 
yet  his  veneration  for  old  traditions  is  as  strong 
now  as  it  ever  was,  and  he  is  as  purely  Japanese  in 
his  tastes  and  convictions.  His  thoughts — a large 
proportion  of  his  thoughts,  at  all  events — have  turned 
to  things  Western,  and  he  has  realized  that  it  is 
essential  to  the  future  well-being  of  his  country  that 
he  should  not  only  think  about  but  thoroughly  un- 
derstand modern  methods.  This  is  not  necessarily 
because  he  likes  them,  nor  because  he  considers 
them  to  be  immeasurably  superior  to  his  own,  but 
because  he  has  grasped  the  fact  that  to  preserve 
his  own  country  intact  he  must  make  the  foreigner 
respect  him,  and  that  to  effect  this  purpose  he  must 
bring  his  country  into  line  with  Western  nations. 

7 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 


There  is  another  very  powerful  reason,  viz.,  that  a 
Japanese  as  a rule  is  by  nature  and  instinct  a stu- 
dent, and  a very  profound  student.  He  is  willing 
and  anxious  to  study  any  subject,  both  with  regard 
to  its  theory  and  its  practice,  not  necessarily  with  a 
view  of  adopting  the  policy  laid  down  therein,  but  in 
order  to  put  himself  in  the  position  of  being  able  to 
adopt  it,  either  in  whole  or  in  part,  should  he  feel 
that  his  so  doing  would  be  advantageous  to  himself 
or  to  his  country. 

There  are  people  who  hold  that  the  so-called  civ- 
ilization of  Japan  is  only  a thin  veneer,  which  will 
neither  bear  much  investigation  nor  the  test  of  time ; 
that  all  that  is  being  done  has  been  due  to  a vain- 
glorious feeling,  brought  about  more  particularly  by 
the  success  of  the  late  war  with  China.  But  such 
is  not  the  case;  for  although  one  may  call  the  Japan 
of  the  present  day  an  artificial  Japan,  in  most  senses 
of  the  word,  still  the  Japanese,  who  are  thorough  in 
everything,  are  thorough  even  in  their  artificiality. 

The  progress  that  is  being  made  by  the  country — 
if  we  assume  that  by  “ progress  ” is  meant  the  adop- 
tion of  Western  methods  — may  be  of  an  artificial 
nature,  but  in  the  long-run  it  will  be  found  that 
contact  with  Europeans  will  not  transform  the  Jap- 
anese into  a people  with  European  instincts,  but 
that  they  will  have  assimilated  and  absorbed  into 
their  nature  so  much  of  our  habits  as  they  think 
advisable. 

The  local  foreign  journals  are  fond  of  maintaining 
that  the  Japanese  are  merely  “aping  the  foreigner,” 

8 


A TOKIO  DANCING-GIRL 


By  the  Genroku-Kwan 


POPULAR  MISCONCEPTIONS  OF  JAPAN 


but  that  is  hardly  the  right  expression ; for  to  “ ape  ” 
us  would  mean  to  copy  us  without  reason  or  intelli- 
gence. It  is  true  that  the  Japanese  often  wear  foreign 
clothes  when  going  about  their  business  and  when 
in  contact  with  a foreigner,  either  because  they  find 
such  clothes  more  practical  for  certain  work ; or,  if 
they  are  in  a foreign  country,  because  they  know  it 
is  the  correct  thing  to  do.  They  use  Western  build- 
ings and  furniture  for  their  modern  offices,  as  they 
have  found  it  impossible  to  conduct  modern  business 
under  Japanese  conditions.  They  learn  to  speak 
our  language,  because  this  is  essential  to  the  new 
policy  of  their  country.  But  at  home  they  revert 
naturally  to  their  methods  of  life,  to  their  own  clothes, 
and  to  their  own  language. 

One  of  the  most  glaring  and  oft-repeated  of  popu- 
lar fallacies  about  Japan  is  that  which  asserts  that 
everything  in  that  country  is  little. 

Undoubtedly  the  average  stature  of  the  Japanese 
is  somewhat  less  than  that  of  Europeans  and  Amer- 
icans, and  their  houses  and  utensils  strike  us  as  being 
somewhat  smaller  than  our  own. 

Most  of  the  earlier  writers  noticed  and  noted  that 
fact,  and  others  took  it  up  until  it  became  a point  of 
honor  among  foreign  scribes  never  to  mention  any- 
thing Japanese  without  coupling  with  it  a belittling 
adjective  of  some  sort.  “These  delightful  little  peo- 
ple; their  tiny  little  hands,  their  polite  little  man- 
ners, their  dear  little  doll’s-houses,  their  funny  little 
waddling  walk,”  and  so  on,  and  so  on,  ad  nauseam. 
The  general  littleness  of  Japan  was  as  firmly  accepted 

9 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 


by  the  foreigner,  and  as  grossly  exaggerated  as,  for 
instance,  are  the  alleged  protruding  teeth  and  red 
Dundreary  whiskers  which  characterize  the  English- 
man of  to-day  in  French  caricature. 

There  came  a time,  however,  when  it  was  discov- 
ered that  there  were  other  subjects  of  interest  about 
the  country  than  the  question  of  dimensions  of  the 
people  and  the  things,  so  the  “littleness  of  Japan” 
had  a holiday  for  a time,  until  it  was  rediscovered  as 
an  astounding  fact  by  Sir  Edwin  Arnold. 

In  excusing  himself  for  employing  the  word  “lit- 
tle ” so  often,  that  talented  author  urged  as  an  ex- 
tenuating circumstance  that  everything  in  that  coun- 
try was  little,  except  the  shrimps,  which  were  colossal, 
and  the  sea  and  the  mountains. 

This  was  enough  for  the  purposes  of  the  super- 
ficial writer,  who,  as  a rule,  and  especially  if  he  had 
never  been  to  Japan  in  his  life,  conscientiously  ap- 
plied the  wrong  end  of  the  telescope  to  his  eye,  firmly 
shut  the  other,  and  adapted  as  the  starting-point  of 
his  thesis  the  axiom  that  everything  in  Japan  was 
small. 

With  regard  to  the  theory  of  the  miniature  houses 
in  Japan,  I should  think  that  the  Japanese  living  in 
Tokio  to-day  must  have  in  the  way  of  floor  area  to 
their  houses  a great  deal  more  space  per  man  than 
has  the  Londoner  in  his  native  city.  The  Japanese 
houses  look  small  to  us  because  they  do  not  run 
into  many  stories  as  a rule,  and  because  the  rooms 
are  not  nearly  so  high  as  ours.  But  if  Japanese  rooms 
are  two  or  three  feet  lower  than  ours,  this  is  not  due 


IO 


POPULAR  MISCONCEPTIONS  OF  JAPAN 


to  the  average  stature  of  the  Japanese  people  being 
two  or  three  feet  less  than  that  of  the  Englishman,  as 
the  reasoning  of  certain  writers  would  seem  to  sug- 
gest, but  because  the  normal  attitude  of  a Japanese 
when  inside  a room  is  a sitting  one,  and  he  sits  on 
his  heels  on  the  floor. 

The  spirit  which  tempts  people  to  underrate  the 
size  of  everything  that  is  Japanese  has  betrayed 
more  than  one  foreign  writer  into  describing  even 
the  Japanese  railways  as  being  built  on  the  micro- 
scopic principle,  and  the  trains  as  being  composed 
of  little  toy  engines  and  carriages ; but  when  we 
come  down  to  plain,  unvarnished  fact  we  have  to 
admit  that  the  railway  gauge  of  Japan  is  three  feet 
six  inches,  which  is  nearly  three  inches  wider  than 
that  of  about  half  the  railways  in  India,  in  which 
full-grown  Europeans  travel  comfortably,  and  that 
the  inhabitants  of  Ceylon  are  clamoring  to  have 
their  gauge  reduced  to  that  of  the  narrow  Indian 
gauge.  Thus  it  is  plain  that  there  is  nothing  much 
in  the  above  belittling  argument. 

In  olden  days  there  were  many  excuses  for  a 
literature  based  on  what  may  be  called  the  “ com- 
parative dimensions”  principle  about  Japan,  for 
then,  except  for  the  temples,  the  statues  of  the 
Daibutzu,  the  processions,  the  umbrellas,  the  wres- 
tlers, and  the  head-dresses  and  sashes  of  the  women, 
most  things  material  were  worked  out  on  a smaller 
scale  there  than  in  Europe. 

At  the  present  day,  however,  we  are  bound  to 
admit  that  their  army,  navy,  mercantile  marine,  rail- 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 


way  systems,  public  buildings,  educational,  political, 
financial,  commercial,  and  industrial  organizations, 
their  asiprations  and  their  doings,  must  all  be  ac- 
counted large  when  compared  with  kindred  institu- 
tions in  the  average  European  country  of  to-day. 

Even  the  difference  in  average  stature  between 
European  and  Japanese  may  be  lessened  or  done 
away  with  after  a generation  or  two  of  youths  have 
been  brought  up  on  regular  drill,  lawn-tennis,  base- 
ball, rowing,  and  bicycling,  and  nurtured  on  a diet 
which  has  an  increasing  tendency  towards  stimulat- 
ing foods.* 

It  is,  I understand,  mainly  in  the  length  of  leg 
that  the  Japanese  are  deficient  from  the  point  of 
view  of  our  European  anthropometrical  ideal ; and 
this  is  said  to  be  due  to  their  native  method  of  sit- 
ting down,  which  tells  against  leg  development. 
There  is  a growing  tendency  to  adopt  chairs,  at  all 
events  during  the  greater  portion  of  the  day,  in 
business  circles. 

Another  extremely  well-worn  fallacy  with  regard 
to  the  Japanese  character,  but  one  which  fortunately 
is  beginning  to  wear  itself  out,  is  that  they  are  a 
frivolous  people;  and,  to  quote  Sir  Edwin  Arnold 
once  more,  “ cannot  look  upon  anything  seriously.” 
I cannot  understand  how  any  student  of  Japan  can 
draw  such  a conclusion,  although  their  methods  of 
seriousness  may  not  invariably  follow  on  the  lines 
of  ours.  The  Japanese  have,  it  is  true,  a keen  sense 


* Meat  now  is  included  in  the  naval  diet. 


12 


THE  JAPANESE  BATTLE-SHIP  SHIKISH1MA 

(The  most  powerful  war-ship  in  the  world.  Built  at  the  Thames  Iron-works) 

Drawn  by  Bernard  F.  Gribble 


POPULAR  MISCONCEPTIONS  OF  JAPAN 


of  humor  and  of  the  ridiculous,  and  the  spirit  of  bur- 
lesque and  caricature  is  strongly  developed  in  their 
nature;  but  in  their  own  particular  way  I believe 
that  they  look  on  the  problems  of  life  at  least  as 
seriously  as  the  rest  of  the  world,  and  that,  in  their 
endeavors  to  probe  and  solve  them  satisfactorily, 
they  are  often  far  more  persevering  and  thorough 
than  the  people  of  almost  any  other  nation. 

Generally  speaking,  it  may  be  said  that  treaty- 
port  pessimism  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  superficial 
and  enthusiastic  writer  on  the  other,  have  been  re- 
sponsible for  the  propagation  of  most  of  the  many 
popular  fallacies  which  are  generally  accepted  abroad 
with  regard  to  the  character  and  doings  of  the 
Japanese.  But  there  is  a third  factor  which  per- 
haps may  tend  to  throw  the  foreigner  at  home  some- 
what off  the  scent  in  his  endeavor  to  estimate  the 
Japanese  of  to-day,  and  that  is  the  impressions  he 
draws  from  those  Japanese  whom  he  sees  in  his 
own  country. 

We  must  bear  in  mind  that  the  Japanese  who 
come  to  England  and  America  from  time  to  time, 
while  being  representative  of  all  that  is  best  in  the 
way  of  progressive  Japan  from  the  point  of  view 
of  the  Westernizing  of  their  country,  are  as  a rule 
picked  men,  and  are  nearly  always  highly  educated, 
even  from  the  foreigner’s  point  of  view. 

Such  men  are  sent  abroad  with  a set  purpose  to 
learn  something  that  the  foreigner  can  teach  them, 
and  are  consequently  chosen  on  account  of  their 
intelligence  and  aptitude,  so  that  they  may  absorb 

r3 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 

as  rapidly  and  effectually  as  possible  the  particular 
knowledge  which  is  to  form  the  subject  of  their 
investigations.  They  are  living  during  the  time 
that  they  are  with  us  an  artificial  existence,  sur- 
rounded by  Westerners  and  Western  methods. 
They  have,  with  that  wonderful  tact  which  is  one 
of  the  most  striking  traits  in  the  Japanese  char- 
acter, adapted  themselves  for  the  time  being,  and 
apparently  without  effort,  to  our  customs  and  our 
prejudices.  Therefore  we  must  not  look  on  them 
quite  as  representing  accurately  the  ordinary  Jap- 
anese as  one  finds  them  in  their  own  country,  for  the 
surroundings  and  conditions  are  so  different  as  to 
make  comparison  impossible. 

With  all  these  difficulties,  natural  and  otherwise, 
in  the  way  of  a correct  analysis,  the  visitor  has 
every  excuse  for  drawing  inaccurate  conclusions 
with  regard  to  Japan  ; and  it  is  with  just  cause  that 
the  Japanese  complain  of  the  misrepresentation  of 
their  country  and  their  methods  so  frequently  made 
by  the  foreigner.  On  the  other  hand,  however, 
they  have  been  extremely  fortunate  in  the  treat- 
ment they  have  received  at  the  hands  of  many 
thoroughly  competent  and  experienced  writers. 

With  such  exponents  as  Rein,  Mitford,  Satow, 
Brinkley,  Hearne,  and  Chamberlain,  to  say  nothing 
of  earlier  authors,  it  must  be  admitted  that  the 
mythology,  history,  habits,  character,  literature, 
scenery,  geography,  poetry,  science,  art,  and  in- 
dustries of  that  country — in  fact,  all  the  phases  of 
life  which  go  to  make  up  the  old  Japan — have  been 

14 


POPULAR  MISCONCEPTIONS  OF  JAPAN 

fully  and  extremely  carefully  dealt  with.  In  fact, 
few  countries,  and  certainly  no  Asiatic  countries, 
have  attracted  the  pen  of  so  many  able  exponents 
as  has  Japan.  U nfortunately,  however,  there  have 
been  so  many  writers  who  cannot  be  classed  in 
that  category,  that  the  searcher  after  knowledge  is 
apt  to  find  it  a difficult  matter  to  arrive  at  a deter- 
mination as  to  which  is  which. 


CHAPTER  II 


TRAVELLING  AND  ACCOMMODATION 

Nine  people  out  of  ten  who  go  to  Japan  land  in 
the  first  instance  at  Yokohama  or  Nagasaki,  both 
of  which  places  have  been  immortalized  times  out 
of  number  by  writers  of  many  nations.  The  opin- 
ions concerning  those  places  vary  very  widely.  As 
a rule,  the  man  who  wishes  to  make  a study  of 
the  country  does  not  care  for  the  treaty-ports,  for 
he  has  come  to  Japan  to  learn  something  of  the 
Japanese  people  and  their  methods,  and  the  treaty- 
ports  will  not  help  him  in  any  way  to  obtain  that 
knowledge.  The  casual  visitor,  however,  usually 
makes  one  or  other  of  those  places  his  headquarters, 
and  from  time  to  time  runs  into  the  country  over 
the  regular  routes  which  are  followed  by  tourists, 
along  all  of  which  he  finds  accommodation  which, 
if  not  first-class,  is  at  all  events  passable,  and  suffi- 
ciently Western  to  make  real  discomfort  almost  an 
impossibility. 

The  European  hotels  in  the  treaty-ports  can  only 
be  classed  as  being  good  in  that  they  are,  as  a rule, 
somewhat  better  than  those  which  one  finds  at  the 
ports  in  other  countries  east  of  India,  and  this  is 
not  saying  much  for  them.  The  best  hotels  run  on 

16 


TRAVELLING  AND  ACCOMMODATION 


European  lines  in  Japan  are  found  in  certain  of  the 
big  holiday  resorts  in  the  interior,  such  as  Miya- 
noshita  and  Nikko,  and  are  owned  and  managed  by 
Japanese.  Such  good  hotels,  however,  can  very 
easily  be  numbered  on  the  fingers  of  one  hand. 
The  finest  hotel  on  the  European  style,  as  far  as 
appearance  is  concerned,  is  the  Imperial  Hotel  at 
Tokio.  It  is  owned  and  run  by  a Japanese  com- 
pany, and  subsidized  by  the  Imperial  household, 
but  is  so  eccentrically  managed  that,  while  possess- 
ing all  the  features  which  go  to  make  up  first-class 
accommodation,  in  the  shape  of  good  rooms,  good 
furniture,  and  good  cooking,  it  lacks  just  that  knowl- 
edge on  the  part  of  its  directors  the  possession  of 
which  would  transform  it  from  a rather  uncomfort- 
able place  of  abode  into  an  excellent  one. 

As  a matter  of  fact,  the  Imperial  Hotel  was  estab- 
lished by  the  Japanese  for  the  purpose  of  affording 
a place  where  official  and  other  receptions  on  Euro- 
pean lines  could  be  held,  and  dinners  given  as  occa- 
sion demanded,  and  the  ordinary  visitor  who  puts 
up  there  does  so  at  his  own  risk.  He  finds  plenty 
of  managers  and  clerks  who  are  civil  enough,  but  he 
will  find  that  his  instructions  are  ignored,  his  letters 
mislaid,  and  his  bell  unanswered.  He  finds  plenty 
of  servants,  through  whom  he  will  have  to  elbow  his 
way  in  the  passages  and  public  rooms ; and  should 
he  require  to  play  billiards,  he  must  push  them  from 
the  table.  He  finds  a splendid  dining-room,  attended 
without  any  system,  and  a good  though  limited  bill 
of  fare,  which,  to  his  dismay,  is  identical  every  day. 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 

I think  that  the  transition  Japan  is  exemplified 
in  its  very  worst  phases  at  the  Imperial  Hotel  in 
Tokio;  for  while  no  doubt  everybody  about  the 
place  is  doing  what  he  believes  to  be  the  right 
thing,  the  people  connected  with  it  have  not  yet 
learned  to  understand  the  foreigner.  They  have 
fallen  into  the  error — an  error  which  is  not  uncom- 
mon in  Japan  just  now  among  people  who,  having 
no  personal  acquaintance  with  foreign  countries, 
endeavor  to  assume  foreign  ways — of  believing  that, 
because  we  are  less  ceremonious  in  our  manner  than 
they,  they  should  in  dealing  with  us  divest  their 
manner  of  any  sort  of  courtesy.  As  the  English- 
man who,  without  a thorough  understanding  of 
Japanese  etiquette,  endeavors  to  adopt  their  style 
invariably  makes  himself  ridiculous,  so  those  Japan- 
ese who  mistake  our  comparatively  abrupt  ways  for 
a want  of  courtesy,  and  endeavor  to  follow  our  ex- 
ample, appear  to  us  to  be  merely  boorish  and  rude. 

It  is  a pity  that  the  Imperial  Hotel  is  not  better 
managed,  for  it  is  here  that  a very  large  percentage 
of  the  foreign  visitors  acquire  their  first  impressions 
of  Japan  and  the  Japanese  after  leaving  the  treaty- 
ports.  Such  as  it  is,  however,  the  Imperial  Hotel  is 
almost  the  only  hostelry  on  “foreign”  lines  worthy 
of  the  name  in  the  immense  metropolis  of  Japan. 

The  reasons  why  the  casual  visitor  stays  in  the 
treaty-ports,  and  only  visits  such  places  in  the  in- 
terior as  may  be  termed  treaty-port  haunts,  are — 
firstly,  that  he  cannot  make  himself  understood  else- 
where ; and,  secondly,  that  he  finds  a difficulty,  which 

18 


TRAVELLING  AND  ACCOMMODATION 


is  as  a rule  an  insurmountable  one,  in  living  for  any 
length  of  time  in  Japanese  houses  and  on  Japanese 
food. 

Then,  again,  there  is  plenty  to  interest  him  for  a 
time  inside  the  beaten  track  without  going  farther 
afield.  If  I were  called  upon  to  offer  advice  to  the 
flying  visitor,  I should  recommend  him  to  stick  to 
such  places  while  he  is  in  the  country,  unless  he 
happens  to  be  able  to  travel  with  some  one,  other 
than  a professional  guide,  who  knows  Japan,  speaks 
the  language,  and  can  arrange  to  supplement  the 
Japanese  diet  with  European  necessaries  from  time 
to  time. 

Of  life  in  the  treaty-ports,  I can  only  say  that  as 
a rule  the  people  who  live  there  dislike  doing  so ; 
or,  at  all  events,  it  is  their  general  habit  to  say  that 
they  wish  they  were  not  living  in  Japan. 

But,  except  geographically  speaking,  they  are  not 
in  Japan,  for  the  daily  routine  of  the  foreigner  in 
the  treaty -ports  has  nothing  in  common  with  life 
elsewhere  in  that  country.  It  is  as  accurate  a re- 
production of  life  in  Europe  and  America  as  can  be 
made  by  so  cosmopolitan  a community.  That  the 
reproduction  is  not  a very  faithful  one  is,  under  the 
circumstances,  only  to  be  expected,  when  we  take 
into  consideration  the  conditions  of  the  case.  And 
the  most  that  can  be  said  of  it  from  the  point  of 
view  of  a stranger  is  that  the  people  have  tried  to 
make  the  conditions  of  life  as  bearable  as  possible, 
and  with  considerable  success. 

I got  into  terribly  hot  water  when  out  there  for 

T9 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 


mentioning  in  one  of  my  articles  that  the  treaty- 
port  communities  were  of  a mixed  nature,  and  I 
was  told  that  this  statement  implied  that  they  con- 
tained no  gentlefolks.  This  was  not  my  intention, 
for  among  the  residents  are  many  of  birth,  educa- 
tion, and  wealth ; and  as  trading  communities  go, 
those  of  the  treaty-ports  may  be  described  as  being 
of  a distinctly  creditable  standard.  But  it  is  difficult 
to  speak  of  a community  drawn  from  the  people  of 
every  country  of  the  earth,  beginning  with  Euro- 
peans and  Americans,  and  finishing  up  with  China- 
men and  mixed  Asiatic  breeds,  and  composed  of 
every  grade  of  society,  between  the  professional  man 
and  opulent  trader  on  the  one  hand,  and  on  the 
other  the  long-shore  loafer  and  the  hanger-on,  as 
otherwise  than  very  mixed. 

The  visitor  who,  wearied  with  a plethora  of 
temples  and  Daibutzu,  and  of  a fish  and  rice  diet, 
finds  himself  back  among  his  own  countrymen  in 
the  treaty-ports  has  occasion — an  occasion,  by  the 
way,  of  which  he  rarely  avails  himself — to  thank 
these  residents,  from  the  bottom  of  his  heart,  for 
providing  him  with  the  necessaries  and  luxuries  of 
life,  for  which  he  has  longed  in  vain  when  up- 
country. 

Though,  in  the  treaty-ports  or  elsewhere,  one  does 
not  find  much  in  the  way  of  really  good  hotel  ac- 
commodation, many  of  the  residents  have  charming 
and  extremely  well-appointed  houses ; for  the  man 
who  has  command  of  even  a moderate  supply  of 
money  can  surround  himself  with  many,  if  not  most, 


20 


SNAP-SHOT  IN  A VILLAGE  STREET 


TRAVELLING  AND  ACCOMMODATION 


of  the  minor  luxuries  which  go  to  make  life  pleasant. 
The  clubs,  too,  are  very  comfortable. 

Most  of  the  usual  sports  are  indulged  in  freely, 
with  the  exception  of  polo,  and  there  are  occasional 
pony  races,  though  these  are  not  up  to  the  standard 
of  those  one  comes  across  in  many  other  parts  of  the 
Far  East.  There  is  no  hunting,  very  little  shooting 
is  obtainable  now,  and  good  fishing  is  also  scarce,  but 
the  yachting  and  boating  are  excellent. 

As,  however,  I am  not  writing  a treaty-port  guide- 
book, I do  not  propose  to  deal  at  greater  length  with 
the  stereotyped  resorts  of  the  tourist,  my  object  in 
this  chapter  being  to  point  out  to  the  foreigner,  in 
view  of  the  forthcoming  opening  up  of  the  country, 
a few  of  the  features  of  travel  and  accommodation 
which  go  to  make  up  the  conditions  with  which  he 
is  likely  to  meet  in  travelling  about  Japan  proper, 
more  or  less  on  his  own  account,  at  the  present 
day. 

It  is  usually  maintained,  and  very  rightly  so,  that 
to  acquire  a knowledge  of  the  Japanese  language, 
even  moderately  well,  is  a question  of  many  years  of 
hard  study.  It  is  true  that  one  learned  author 
stated  that  he  had  accomplished  this  task  after  a 
few  months’  application,  but  I cannot  for  the  life 
of  me  understand  how  he  did  it. 

The  ordinary  person  finds  the  study  not  only  an 
extremely  laborious  and  lengthy  task,  but  one  which, 
when  entered  upon  seriously,  has  a faculty  for  ab- 
sorbing, or  rather  blotting  out,  all  other  questions 
for  the  time  being. 

21 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 


But  between  mastering  the  Japanese  language,  in 
the  proper  sense  of  the  word,  and  acquiring  a sort  of 
jargon,  which  can  be  perfectly  well  understood  for 
the  purposes  of  the  ordinary  requirements  of  life, 
there  is  a very  wide  difference;  and  there  is  no  rea- 
son why  any  person  of  ordinary  intelligence  should 
not,  without  any  great  effort,  accomplish  the  latter 
feat  in  two  or  three  months  from  his  arrival. 

In  undergoing  the  process,  however,  he  must  be 
prepared  to  remain  out  of  touch  with  Europeans,  or 
nearly  so,  and  to  run  the  risk  of  being  considerably 
bored  at  times. 

The  easiest  method  of  acquiring  this  sort  of  prac- 
tical smattering  of  Japanese  is  to  begin  by  learning 
that  simple  and  comparatively  modern  form  of  writ- 
ing known  as  Katakana , which  is,  in  fact,  a phonetic 
alphabet,  or  syllabary,  containing  just  under  fifty  char- 
acters. This  is  easily  accomplished,  and  a knowledge 
of  it  will  enable  one  to  grasp  the  way  in  which  Jap- 
anese words  are  built  up,  thereby  not  only  materi- 
ally assisting  the  memory  with  regard  to  words  and 
phrases,  but  robbing  the  Anglo  - Japanese  phrase- 
book,  which  one  purchases  in  the  ordinary  course, 
of  most  of  its  terrors. 

When  one  glances  at  such  a book  for  the  first 
time,  and  learns  that  the  shortest  way  of  saying 
“I”  in  respectable  Japanese  is  “ Watakushi  wa,”  and 
that  to  change  that  simple  pronoun  into  the  plural 
“we”  it  is  necessary  to  add  two  more  syllables  to  the 
above  five,  the  embryo  student  may  well  be  excused 
for  standing  aghast  at  the  appalling  nature  of  the 


22 


TRAVELLING  AND  ACCOMMODATION 


task  he  had  thought  of  setting  himself,  and,  indeed, 
for  turning  tail  then  and  there. 

If  he  masters  Katakana,  however,  he  will  see  that 
a great  deal  of  the  length  of  the  words  in  his  book 
is  due  to  the  fact  that  we  are  obliged,  when  trying  to 
convey  their  sound  by  Roman  characters,  to  use  a 
great  many  letters. 

The  nature  of  the  practical  smattering  of  Japanese 
that  one  may  learn  in  the  manner  above  explained 
will,  of  course,  not  be  correct,  not  even  at  all  gram- 
matical; but  it  will  suffice  for  the  requirements  of 
the  man  who  is  feeling  his  way  in  the  interior,  and 
he  will  improve  as  he  goes.  The  Japanese  are  won- 
derfully quick  at  grasping  a foreigner’s  meaning,  as 
long  as  he  says  his  say  quietly  and  does  not  bully 
them.  If  he  strings  together  a number  of  the  sub- 
stantives which  should  have  a place  in  his  sentence, 
and  applies  somewhere  or  other  the  required  verb, 
preferably  in  its  root  form,  and  if  his  pronunciation 
is  within  a thousand  miles  of  what  it  should  be,  he 
will  be  able  to  make  himself  understood  as  a rule. 
The  least  sign,  however,  of  blustering  or  of  losing  his 
temper  will  spoil  the  situation,  and  he  may  rave  to 
any  extent  he  likes  to  no  purpose  whatever. 

Assuming  that  a foreigner  possessed  of  the  above 
amount  of  knowledge  of  the  Japanese  language,  ac- 
companied by  a boy  who  does  not  understand  Eng- 
lish, and  armed  with  his  passport,  should  set  out  on 
his  travels  in  the  interior,  he  need  have  no  very  seri- 
ous trouble  in  finding  his  way  about,  as  long  as  he  is 
in  no  particular  hurry. 


23 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 


A great  deal  has  been  said  to  the  discredit  of  the 
Japanese  professional  guides,  but  I do  not  think,  as 
interpreters  go,  that  they  are  worse  than  any  others. 
It  is  far  preferable,  however,  to  do  without  them,  if 
possible,  except  within  the  regular  tourist  limits,  on 
account  of  the  extreme  dislike  in  which  they  are 
held  by  the  hotel  people  in  purely  Japanese  places. 
This  dislike  is  due  to  the  fact  that  when  a guide  ac- 
companies a party,  he  usually  manages  to  retain  a 
great  portion  of  the  money  which  would  have  formed 
the  innkeeper’s  legitimate  profits. 

With  railway  travelling  in  Japan  one  has  no  diffi- 
culty, provided  always  that  earthquakes  or  floods 
have  not  damaged  or  destroyed  a portion  of  the  line. 
There  are  seldom  accidents  from  any  other  cause. 

People  have  got  into  the  habit  of  exaggerating  the 
slowness  of  Japanese  trains.  They  are,  as  a matter 
of  fact,  a good  deal  faster  than  the  trains  of  Norway 
and  similarly  mountainous  countries,  and  their  mean 
speed,  including  goods  trains,  is  about  equal  to  that 
of  the  narrow-gauge  lines  in  India. 

There  are  no  sleeping-cars  on  the  Japanese  lines, 
and  consequently  night  travelling  is  not  particularly 
comfortable.  And  the  passenger  cannot  procure  for 
love  or  money,  anywhere  along  the  line,  the  pro- 
verbial cast-iron  sandwich  so  dear  to  the  travelling 
Englishman’s  heart,  and,  for  the  matter  of  that,  to 
his  pocket.  Excellent  beer  and  excellent  lemonade, 
made  in  the  country,  are,  however,  obtainable  wher- 
ever railways  go;  but,  as  far  as  solid  food  is  con- 
cerned, one  must  put  up  with  the  native  luncheon- 


24 


THE  REMAINS  OF  THE  VILLAGE  OF  SHIMIDZU  AFTER  A FLOOD 


HAKODATE  HARBOR,  IN  THE  HOKKAIDO 


TRAVELLING  AND  ACCOMMODATION 


boxes,  which  are  sold  in  pairs,  the  one  containing 
rice,  and  the  other  an  assortment  of  fish,  omelette, 
seaweed,  and  beans.  The  whole  outfit,  including 
the  boxes  and  the  inevitable  chopsticks,  costs  only 
a penny  or  two. 

On  nearly  all  the  lines  the  tickets  bear  the  names 
of  the  departure  and  arrival  stations  in  Roman  char- 
acters; and  in  the  stations  the  practice  of  printing 
these  names  in  English  is  also  general. 

Baggage  is  checked  on  the  American  system, 
which  is  worked  very  efficiently.  With  regard  to 
the  cost  of  travelling  by  railway,  one  can  go  first- 
class  for  a very  long  trip  for  a shilling.  This  is 
partly  due  to  the  low  price  per  mile,  and  partly  to 
the  low  number  of  miles  per  hour. 

In  several  of  the  big  provincial  towns  one  finds 
hotels  said  to  be  conducted  on  the  foreign  principle, 
and  certain  Japanese  hotels  have  a “ foreign  ” side. 
The  European  accommodation  in  such  places  is, 
as  a rule,  terrible.  The  rooms  are  dirty,  the  beds 
are  rickety,  the  bedclothes  are  apparently  seldom 
washed,  and  the  tables  and  chairs  are  seldom  ca- 
pable of  standing  on  more  than  two  legs  at  a time. 

When  I first  went  to  Japan  I could  not  under- 
stand how  on  the  “foreign”  side  of  the  Japanese 
hotels  the  accommodation  could  be  so  inferior,  when 
the  Japanese  portion  was  kept  scrupulously  clean. 
One  would  naturally  think  that  a people  whose 
houses  were  so  spotless  would  revolt  at  having  a 
portion  of  their  premises  in  a filthy  condition.  But, 
as  explained  to  me  by  the  landlord  of  one  of  these 

25 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 


hybrid  establishments,  “ Foreigners  are  dirty  by 
nature.  They  go  about  their  houses  in  their  boots, 
and  consequently  they  cannot  wish  to  have  their 
rooms  kept  in  proper  condition.” 

This  worthy  host  had  never  been  out  of  his 
country,  and  possibly  never  to  a treaty-port. 

When  a foreigner  arrives  at  one  of  these  half- 
and-half  hotels,  he  is  invariably  pressed  to  take  up 
his  quarters  in  the  European  portion  of  it;  firstly, 
because  it  is  assumed  that  he  will  prefer  such  ac- 
commodation; and  secondly,  because  until  the  peo- 
ple of  the  house  know  him  they  take  it  for  granted 
that  he  will  disorganize  their  routine.  They  expect 
him  to  walk  about  in  his  boots,  to  make  them  put  a 
chair  in  his  room,  the  legs  of  which  chair  will  dig 
holes  in  the  matting;  to  want  all  sorts  of  things 
which  are  not  at  all  suited  to  the  accommodation, 
and  to  insist  on  soaping  himself  in  the  general  bath. 

When  an  individual  foreigner  is  known,  however, 
and  it  is  found  that  he  does  not  want  to  indulge  in 
such  eccentricities,  he  is,  as  a rule,  welcomed,  or,  at 
all  events,  tolerated. 

There  is  another  reason  why  the  people  of  the 
house  wish  to  place  the  foreigner  in  the  foreign 
j quarter,  and  that  is  that  they  can  charge  a higher 
price  for  accommodating  him  there. 

Many  strangers  to  the  country  do  not  understand 
the  method  of  “ tipping,”  which  is  an  essential  feat- 
ure in  Japanese  hotel  life.  This  question  of  giving 
chadai , as  it  is  called,  is  one  of  the  main  difficulties 
which  the  verdant  foreigner  travelling  in  Japan  has 

26 


JAPANESE  HOTEL,  INTERIOR 


TRAVELLING  AND  ACCOMMODATION 


to  face.  If  he  has  a guide,  he  will  be  told  by  him 
what  to  pay  in  this  way ; in  which  case  the  guide, 
who  handles  the  money,  will  probably  keep  most  of 
it  for  himself.  If  he  has  no  guide,  he  does  not  know 
what  to  give,  and  offers  a modest  gratuity,  as  he 
would  elsewhere,  taking  as  his  stand-point  that  if  the 
bill  is  low  the  tip  should  be  proportionately  small. 
This  is  merely  following  out  in  a logical  manner 
our  system  at  home  of  giving  a smaller  gratuity  in 
a second-class  hotel  than  we  should  in  a first-class 
one. 

I have  heard  the  chadai  described  as  an  extortion, 
and  to  the  newly  arrived  foreigner  it  has  every  ap- 
pearance of  being  such. 

It  was,  however,  the  most  just  of  all  systems  for  a 
country  conducted  on  the  lines  of  the  Japan  of  the 
past,  though  it  will  hardly  adapt  itself  to  the  Japan 
of  the  future.  In  these  transition  days,  when  Euro- 
pean theories,  if  not  methods,  are  partially  under- 
stood by  the  business  classes  even  in  the  interior, 
its  effect  is  especially  peculiar. 

In  days  gone  by  the  Japanese  innkeeper  made  a 
small  charge  for  the  food  he  supplied,  which  charge 
was  presumably  assumed  to  be  the  cost  price,  or 
thereabouts,  of  the  articles  supplied.  He  made  no 
charge  for  his  rooms  or  for  anything  else.  The 
guest,  on  arriving,  made  a present  of  money  to  the 
house  and  another  to  the  servants,  and  the  value  of 
these  presents  was  determined  by  the  social  rank  of 
the  giver  and  the  class  of  accommodation  he  looked 
for.  If  the  sum  were  large,  he  was  given  good 

27 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 


rooms  and  was  well  looked  after,  and  if  it  were 
small  his  quarters  and  his  attendance  were  in  pro- 
portion. 

Among  Japanese  in  Japan  the  system  worked  well, 
for  the  social  rank  of  a guest  was  at  once  patent  to 
the  host.  Now,  however,  the  foreigner  comes  to 
these  places,  and  the  host  knows  nothing  of  his 
rank,  except  that  he  has  a notion  that  all  foreigners 
should  be  very  wealthy.  If,  therefore,  after  spend- 
ing a day  and  a night  in  his  house,  and  receiving  a 
bill  amounting  to  say  two  shillings,  the  foreigner 
should  offer  a gratuity  of  a shilling,  the  host,  whose 
profit  in  the  ordinary  course  would  be  made  out  of 
the  chadai , may  be  excused  if  he  feels  disappointed 
and  does  not  wish  to  see  his  guest  again. 

It  is  now  understood  by  some  innkeepers  that 
foreigners  look  to  pay  more  for  their  accommoda- 
tion and  less  as  a gratuity,  and  they  are  sometimes 
charged  accordingly.  In  these  transition  days, 
however,  the  unfortunate  foreigner  does  not  know 
whether  he  is  to  be  treated  as  such  in  his  bill,  or 
whether  he  is  expected  to  make  a handsome  pres- 
ent on  arriving  and  be  presented  with  a nominal 
bill  for  his  food  when  he  leaves. 

The  first  time  I came  face  to  face  with  a diffi- 
culty of  this  sort  was  when,  a few  months  after  my 
arrival,  I was  spending  some  days  up-country.  The 
bill  presented  to  me  on  leaving  was  a ridiculously 
small  one,  and,  as  my  knowledge  of  Japanese  was 
of  the  crudest,  I was  glad  to  apply  to  a Japanese 
university  student,  who  spoke  a little  English,  for 

28 


TEA-HOUSE,  INTERIOR 


TRAVELLING  AND  ACCOMMODATION 


information  as  to  what  I should  give  to  the  house 
and  to  the  servants. 

“ How  much  did  you  give  them  on  arriving  ?”  he 
asked  me. 

“ Nothing,”  I replied. 

“ What  is  your  social  position  ?”  he  queried. 

I told  him ; and  he  said,  “ The  earnings  of  people 
who  follow  that  calling  in  Japan  are  not,  as  a rule, 
high,  but  of  late  years  men  of  good  position  are  con- 
nected with  newspapers.  Are  you  well  off?” 

I replied,  modestly. 

“ Then  I should  give  them  . . . ,”  he  said,  naming 
a figure  about  three  times  that  of  my  bill.  I was 
rather  surprised. 

Shortly  after  the  above  incident  I had  occasion 
to  travel  up  the  country  with  a very  rich  Japanese 
gentleman.  He  had  with  him  one  or  two  friends, 
and  I noticed  that  wherever  he  went  he  and  all  of 
us  were  treated  with  the  greatest  respect.  The  best 
of  rooms  and  the  best  of  food  were  forthcoming, 
and,  as  he  had  asked  me  to  accompany  him  pro- 
fessionally, to  advise  him  on  an  engineering  matter 
in  which  he  was  interested,  I was  his  guest.  The 
first  night  we  put  up  at  one  of  the  best  provincial 
hotels  in  Japan.  It  possessed  a “foreign”  quarter 
of  a sort,  and  I elected  to  keep  with  my  friends  on 
the  Japanese  side.  On  leaving,  I asked  one  of  this 
gentleman’s  friends  whether  it  would  be  the  right 
thing  for  me  to  offer  some  gratuity  to  the  house, 
and  he  told  me  that  it  would  not  be  accepted  if  I 
did. 


29 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 

Some  months  afterwards  I happened  to  be  in  the 
same  town,  and  alone.  Remembering  my  former 
excellent  reception,  I went  to  the  same  hotel.  I 
was  strongly  urged  by  the  hotel-keeper  to  go  to  the 
foreign  quarters,  and  on  my  refusing  to  do  so  I was 
shown  into  a most  comfortless  little  Japanese  room. 
By  this  time  I had  begun  to  understand  in  some 
degree  the  complicated  etiquette  of  the  Japanese 
hotel.  Wrapping  up  in  two  separate  packets  of 
tissue  - paper  certain  yen  bills,  one  being  a gift  to 
the  house  and  the  other  to  the  servants,  and,  as 
is  usual  when  giving  a present,  scrawling  on  them 
the  simplest  of  Japanese  hieroglyphics,  signifying 
“common  stuff”  or  “rubbish,”  I placed  them  on  the 
floor.  The  servant  took  them  up  and  left  me. 
Shortly  afterwards  the  landlady  appeared  with  the 
usual  presents  on  a tray,  and  the  receipt  for  the 
chadai. 

She  said  the  sum  I had  given  was  excessive  (it 
was  perhaps  rather  large,  because  I felt  that  on  the 
occasion  of  my  previous  visit  I had  not  been  al- 
lowed to  pay  for  anything).  She  could  not  under- 
stand, she  said,  how  her  servants  had  shown  me 
into  so  dirty  ( kitanai ) a room  (it  was  extremely 
clean,  as  a matter  of  fact,  though  small),  and  that  she 
feared  that  they  had  no  room  worthy  of  me  in  the 
house.  As  I knew  that  a few  months  previously 
the  Mikado  and  his  suite  in  passing  between  Tokio 
and  Kioto  had  engaged  this  very  hotel,  the  genuine 
nature  of  this  deprecatory  estimate  of  the  available 
accommodation  became  apparent.  I said  that  a 

30 


TRAVELLING  AND  ACCOMMODATION 


room  similar  to  the  one  I had  had  before  would 
suit  me ; and  when  they  realized  that  it  was  I who 
had  been  travelling  with  Mr.  X.  (my  former  friend), 
I was  not  only  placed  in  apartments  with  an  area 
which  in  a London  hotel  would  have  been  con- 
sidered amply  large  enough  to  accommodate  half 
a dozen  people,  but  I had  extreme  difficulty  in  get- 
ting left  to  myself  for  a moment  during  the  whole 
of  my  sojourn.  When  at  last  I thought  I had  got 
free  from  them  all  for  a time,  the  son  of  the  house 
brought  up  a fat  Anglo  - Japanese  dictionary,  and 
seemed  anxious  to  while  away  a pleasant  hour  or 
two  in  getting  me  to  decipher  portions  of  it  for 
him.  Apart  from  being  over  - attended,  I was  ex- 
tremely comfortable  at  that  place.  A couple  of 
days  later  I received  a telegram  which  necessitated 
my  going  right  into  a portion  of  the  country  where 
there  were  neither  railways  nor  good  quarters. 
So,  being  in  one  of  the  biggest  of  Japanese  towns, 
and  knowing  that  for  the  next  few  weeks  my  food, 
even  from  a Japanese  point  of  view,  would  be  ex- 
tremely bad,  I instructed  the  hotel-keeper  to  lay 
in  for  my  journey  an  assortment  of  tinned  pro- 
visions and  certain  other  European  commodities. 
This  he  did.  When  I applied  for  my  bill  before 
leaving  the  hotel,  I was  met  with  an  extremely 
courteous  but  very  firm  refusal.  “ Mr.  X.,”  they 
told  me,  “ would  be  extremely  angered  if  they  were 
to  allow  me  to  pay  for  what  I had  had.” 

“ But  I am  not  his  guest  on  this  occasion,  and  he 
is  not  even  here,”  I explained. 

31 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 


“You  were  with  him  before,”  they  replied.  “ Be- 
sides, the  liberal  chadai  which  you  have  given  more 
than  compensates  us  for  such  inferior  food  and  ac- 
commodation as  you  have  had.” 

“ But  you  must  let  me  pay  for  that  case  of  tinned 
provisions,”  I urged. 

They  regretted  that  it  could  not  be  done  ; and  as 
I had  to  catch  my  train,  I left,  thinking  that  when 
some  day  I should  get  back  to  Tokio  I should  be 
able  to  put  matters  right  with  Mr.  X.  When,  how- 
ever, I did  see  him,  months  after,  he  would  not  hear 
of  my  paying  even  for  the  necessaries  I had  laid  in 
with  so  lavish  a hand  for  a journey  which  had  noth- 
ing whatever  to  do  with  him.  I mention  these  per- 
sonal incidents  at  this  stage,  as  they  serve  to  illus- 
trate some  of  the  difficulties  of  a delicate  nature 
which  may  beset  and  serve  to  perplex  the  unsophis- 
ticated traveller  in  Japan. 

On  the  subject  of  Japanese  accommodation,  I had 
formed,  previously  to  my  arrival  in  the  country,  an 
extremely  inaccurate  idea;  and  yet,  in  re-reading 
some  of  the  descriptions  on  which  I had  based  my 
anticipations,  I must  admit  that  in  words  they  were 
often  correct. 

Of  course,  I knew  that  the  rooms  were  low  and 
framed  in  wood,  and  floored  with  spotless  matting; 
that  they  were  fenced  in  with  sliding  panels  of  light 
woodwork  and  paper ; that  they  were  devoid  of  fur- 
niture as  we  know  it;  and  that  one  had  to  sit  on 
the  floor,  and  to  walk  about  in  one’s  stockinged  feet. 

All  this  was  true,  and  it  conveyed  to  my  mind 


32 


TRAVELLING  AND  ACCOMODATION 


the  impression  that  such  accommodation  must  be 
comfortless  in  the  extreme.  Pictures  which  I have 
shown  to  people  of  such  places  since  my  return 
almost  invariably  call  forth  an  expression  to  the 
same  effect. 

Whether  I am  well  advised,  or  am  likely  to  be  suc- 
cessful in  endeavoring  to  elucidate  certain  features 
with  regard  to  Japanese  accommodation  as  I found 
them,  I do  not  know. 

Anyhow,  I would  say  that,  apart  from  the  ques- 
tion of  continually  sitting,  or  rather  kneeling,  on  the 
floor,  the  agonies  entailed  by  which  process  are 
often  much  exaggerated,  a really  good  Japanese 
house,  except  during  the  cold  weather,  is  far  more 
comfortable  than  the  ordinary  so-called  “foreign” 
hotel  that  one  meets  with  in  Japan,  away  from  the 
treaty-ports  and  from  treaty-port  influence. 

The  first  thing  one  usually  does  on  arriving  at  a 
Japanese  hotel  is  to  take  off  one’s  clothes  and  have 
a bath.  It  is  not  necessary  for  the  guest  to  possess 
a single  item  of  luggage ; everything,  from  night- 
clothes and  day-clothes,  for  the  matter  of  that,  even 
down  to  tooth  - brushes,  is  found  for  him  by  the 
house. 

The  Japanese  tooth-brush  is  merely  a stick  of  soft 
wood  pointed  at  one  end  and  having  the  fibre  un- 
ravelled at  the  other.  When  the  visitor  has  made 
use  of  this  instrument  of  torture  he  breaks  it  in  half. 

The  furniture  is  spare  enough.  Mats  to  sit  upon 
are  brought  in  on  one’s  arrival,  and  removed  when 
one  leaves  or  goes  to  bed. 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 


The  bed  during  the  daytime  is  stowed  away  in  a 
cupboard,  and  is  brought  out  only  when  required. 
Such  as  it  is,  I found  it  very  comfortable  as  a rule, 
and,  in  nineteen  cases  out  of  twenty,  clean.  It  con- 
sists, as  most  people  know,  of  a few  thickly  padded 
oblong  quilts,  which  are  placed  on  the  floor.  The 
upper  clothes  are  of  a very  similar  nature,  and  are 
applied  in  a greater  or  less  quantity  according  to 
the  temperature.  The  bedding  is  not  washed  as 
often  as  our  sheets,  but  more  often  than  the  blankets 
in  an  ordinary  European  hotel.  It  is,  however,  sun- 
bathed or  aired  almost  daily,  and  from  time  to  time 
is  unpicked  and  thoroughly  cleaned. 

My  advice  to  Europeans  travelling  in  Japan  is  to 
take  a pair  of  sheets  and  a pillow  with  them.  The 
Japanese  pillow  is  the  weakest  point  in  the  bed- 
furniture  according  to  foreign  idealists’  notions  of 
comfort.  It  is  hard  and  cylindrical,  like  a German 
sausage,  about  eight  inches  in  diameter,  and  twelve 
or  fifteen  inches  long.  I do  not  know  the  nature  of 
the  material  used  in  making  up  the  interior  of  an 
ordinary  pillow,  but  on  one  occasion,  when  I com- 
plained to  a landlady  that  it  was  rather  like  a brick, 
she  triumphantly  brought  me  one  which  she  seemed 
very  proud  of,  and  which  she  told  me  was  stuffed 
with  tea.  When  I explain  that  this  pillow  seemed 
luxurious  and  downy  in  comparison  with  those  I 
had  previously  tried,  the  solid  consistency  of  the 
ordinary  Japanese  pillow  can  be  imagined. 

I feel  that  in  treating  this  subject  I should  tell 
once  more  the  harrowing  tale  of  how  the  Japanese 

34 


TRAVELLING  AND  ACCOMMODATION 


women  torture  themselves  by  sleeping  with  their 
heads  on  blocks  of  wood,  for  that  is  the  theory 
which  is  usually  accepted  in  Europe  and  America. 

However,  it  is  only  true  in  a figurative  sense.  To 
describe  it  accurately,  one  must  say  that  they  sleep 
with  their  necks  resting  on  a pillow,  a portion  of 
which  is  made  of  wood.  But  the  wooden  portion 
does  not  touch  them,  as  above  it  is  fixed  a padded 
roll  of  a softer  consistency,  and  presumably  made  on 
the  same  lines  as  the  pillows  first  described ; but  it 
is  only  three  inches  in  diameter  by  six  or  eight 
inches  long.  Outside  this  roll  paper  is  wound  and 
changed  as  often  as  required.  In  many  parts  of 
the  country  these  are  the  only  pillows  available  for 
either  sex ; and  I can  only  say  that,  as  far  as  I am 
concerned,  I have  slept  more  comfortably  with  my 
neck  on  the  bar  of  a chair. 

My  impression  is  that  the  pillow  I first  described 
— that  made  on  the  sausage  principle — is  a com- 
paratively modern  institution,  and  represents  the 
only  sign  of  transition  from  native  towards  Western 
methods  that  is  to  be  found  in  Japanese  bedding. 

No  ablutions,  or  any  other  functions  of  the  toilet 
except  hair-dressing,  which  is  done  by  professional 
hands,  are  carried  on  in  one’s  room.  In  certain 
passages  water-stands  are  placed  with  metal  basins 
for  washing  one’s  hands  and  face.  These  are  usual- 
ly half  in  the  open  air  and  half  under  cover.  They 
do  not,  however,  play  an  important  part  in  the 
ablutions  of  the  Japanese;  for  the  bath  is  the  real 
thing,  and  is  indulged  in  so  frequently — in  the  sum- 

35 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 


mer  sometimes  three  or  four  times  a day — that  very 
little  supplementary  washing  is  needed. 

Now  I do  not  disguise  from  myself  that,  owing 
to  the  extraordinary  accounts  I had  read  as  to  what 
constituted  a Japanese  bath,  I was  in  a “blue  funk” 
on  the  subject  when  for  the  first  time  I left  the 
beaten  track,  with  the  firm  conviction  that  I must 
face  the  terrible  alternative  of  going  unwashed  for  a 
month,  or  of  losing  forever  my  self-respect 

I had  been  told  that  when  a foreigner  indulged  in 
a bath  in  such  places  it  was  an  occasion  for  all  the 
population  to  come  out  and  see  him  do  it ; that  the 
Japanese  regarded  the  spectacle  as  a free  show,  in 
which  the  foreign  victim  played  the  dual  part  of  a 
clown  and  a “ freak  ” from  Barnum’s. 

I had  been  told  that  everybody  bathed  together 
indiscriminately,  and  that  the  only  sign  that  the 
Japanese  had  given  of  their  appreciation  of  Western 
notions  of  modesty  had  taken  the  form  of  fencing 
off  the  gentlemen’s  portion  of  the  bath  from  that  of 
the  ladies’  by  the  solid  protection  afforded  by  a 
bamboo  rod  simply  floating  on  the  water. 

Well,  some  of  this  is  true  and  some  is  not,  as  is 
usually  the  case  with  regard  to  accepted  notions  of 
Japanese  methods. 

As  a matter  of  fact,  in  such  Japanese  hotels  as 
are  frequently  visited  by  foreigners,  there  is  usually 
bath  accommodation  of  a sort  where  the  European 
can  disport  himself  in  privacy.  It  may  only  be  a 
wooden  tub,  but  he  will  be  able  to  have  it  in  a 
room  or  an  out-house  by  himself.  In  such  hotels 

36 


TRAVELLING  AND  ACCOMMODATION 


as  are  visited  by  foreigners  only  occasionally,  the 
people  of  the  house  and  the  Japanese  guests  will, 
as  a rule,  endeavor,  at  great  inconvenience  to  them- 
selves, to  arrange  matters  so  that  while  the  stranger 
is  in  the  bath-room  he  has  it  to  himself.  It  is  only 
in  the  hotels  away  from  the  ordinary  tourist  track 
that  the  foreign  visitor  need  run  any  risk  of  finding 
ladies  and  gentlemen  strolling  in  while  he  is  in  the 
middle  of  his  bathing  operations.  His  companions 
of  the  bath,  however,  have  not  come  to  see  him,  but 
have  entered  a public  room  to  do  what  he  is  doing ; 
and  unless  he  is  eccentric  in  his  behavior  they  will 
not  pay  any  attention  to  him,  but  merely  take  their 
clothes  off  and  commence  their  ablutions.  If,  how- 
ever, the  outraged  foreigner  should  become  pale 
with  anger,  or  scarlet  with  shame,  or  should  exhibit 
an  ungentlemanly  curiosity  about  his  neighbors,  his 
behavior  will  be  resented,  and  may  cause  him  to  be 
the  object  of  ridicule. 

Let  him  then,  if  he  should  find  himself  in  that 
predicament,  devote  all  his  energies  to  smothering 
his  feelings,  whether  of  indignation,  shame,  or  curi- 
osity. Let  him  imagine,  if  he  can,  that  there  are  no 
people  within  miles  of  him,  or  that  he  is  sitting  in  an 
ordinary  smoking  or  reading  room  in  a European 
hotel ; and,  above  all,  let  him  take  everything  he  sees 
for  granted,  and  not  appear  surprised  or  shocked. 

The  Japanese  bath  in  its  ordinary  form  is  a rec- 
tangular structure  made  mostly  of  wood,  and  is  usu- 
ally let  in  so  that  its  top  is  more  or  less  flush  with 
the  floor.  The  water  is  let  in  cold  through  a bam- 

37 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 


boo  tube,  and  is  heated  in  the  bath  by  a fire  under- 
neath or  on  one  side  of  it.  In  measure  as  it  becomes 
too  hot,  more  cold  water  is  admitted  through  the 
supply-pipe.  No  doubt  the  Japanese  habitually  take 
their  baths  very  warm,  but  the  harrowing  accounts 
of  their  entering  them  at  a temperature  which  would 
boil  a European  must  be  classed  as  figurative  rather 
than  accurate  statements.  For  leprosy,  which  the 
Japanese  consider  to  be  under  certain  conditions  a 
curable  disease,  and  for  certain  disorders  of  the  skin, 
naturally  medicated  springs  are  utilized  for  baths, 
and  at  a very  high  temperature.  But  the  ordinary 
hotel  bath,  though  possibly  somewhat  warmer  than 
our  baths,  is  seldom  too  hot  for  a European  to  use 
without  serious  discomfort.  In  cases  where  accom- 
modation is  poor,  the  bath  consists  merely  of  a 
wooden  tub  of  tolerably  large  dimensions,  suffi- 
ciently high  to  enable  one  when  sitting  down  to 
have  the  water  up  to  one’s  chin. 

The  better  rectangular  structures,  previously  de- 
scribed, vary  in  size  from  about  four  feet  long  by 
three  feet  wide,  up  to  ten  or  twelve  feet  long  by  six 
or  eight  feet  wide  in  some  of  the  hotels. 

The  water  is  seldom  changed  more  than  once  or 
twice  a day,  except  in  places  where  the  natural  hot 
springs  of  the  country  are  available,  in  which  case 
the  water  renews  itself  automatically  and  continually. 
Under  ordinary  conditions,  therefore,  from  a score 
to  a hundred  people  might  bathe  practically  in  the 
same  limited  amount  of  water  which  a bath  of  given 
dimensions  will  hold.  Now,  at  first  sight  this  would 

38 


TRAVELLING  AND  ACCOMMODATION 


strike  the  Englishman  as  a very  dirty  arrangement, 
and  so  it  would  be  if  the  Japanese  treated  the  bath 
as  we  do — that  is  to  say,  as  a place  to  wash  in — but 
he  does  not.  He  gets  into  his  bath  for  the  purpose 
of  raising  the  temperature  of  his  body  after  he  has 
been  thoroughly  washed  all  over,  and  on  leaving  it 
he  is  immediately  washed  all  over  again,  before  he 
puts  his  clothes  on. 

The  ordinary  routine  is  as  follows,  and  in  explain- 
ing it  I am  assuming  that  the  foreign  bather  has 
adopted  the  Japanese  costume  for  the  time  being,  as 
it  is  impossible  to  live  comfortably  in  a Japanese 
house  in  any  but  the  native  garb. 

On  entering  the  bath-room,  which  may  have  one 
or  more  native  guests  of  either  sex  in  it  at  the  time, 
he  divests  himself  of  his  clothes,  and  places  them  on 
a tray  or  shelf  provided  for  the  purpose.  The  bath 
attendant  provides  him  with  a couple  of  buckets  of 
water,  one  hot,  one  rather  cold,  and  while  sitting  on 
a low  stool  on  the  slightly  inclined  floor  the  patient 
lathers  himself  all  over  with  soap  and  water.  The 
attendant  will  assist  him  with  such  portions  of  his 
body  as  may  be  difficult  to  get  at,  and  if  not  pressed 
for  work  with  other  customers  will  carry  out  the 
whole  process  for  him.  The  buckets  of  water  are 
constantly  renewed,  and  after  being  soused  with 
clean  water  to  wash  the  soap  off,  and  thumped  be- 
tween the  shoulder-blades  and  in  the  back  of  the 
neck,  he  gets  into  the  bath. 

Even  if  the  bath  is  unoccupied  when  he  enters  it, 
he  cannot  expect  in  a busy  Japanese  hotel  that  it 

39 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 


will  remain  so ; and  while,  as  I have  above  explained, 
the  Japanese  will  always  do  their  best  to  avoid  bath- 
ing at  the  same  time  as  a foreigner,  it  is  hardly  to 
be  expected  that  when  they  are  ready  to  get  into 
the  bath  they  will  stand  shivering  until  the  foreigner 
has  finished.  Thus  the  foreigner  who  has  tempo- 
rarily adopted  the  Japanese  style  of  living  must  not 
be  disconcerted  if,  when  sitting  in  his  bath,  one,  or 
two,  or  three  ladies  should  come  and  sit  down  beside 
him.  If  they  do  not  know  him,  they  will  take  no 
notice  of  him ; but  if  one  of  them  happens  to  be  his 
landlady,  or  some  one  who  has  previously  conversed 
with  him  in  the  hotel,  she  may  address  some  com- 
monplace remark  to  him  on  the  heat  of  the  water, 
or  any  other  topic;  but  it  will  all  be  done  so  much 
as  a matter  of  course  that  the  most  prurient-mind- 
ed member  of  a modern  vigilance  committee  would 
find  it  a difficult  matter  to  twist  the  situation  into 
anything  suggestive  of  vulgarity,  or  of  a want  of 
modesty.  An  eccentric  situation,  if  you  will,  from 
our  point  of  view,  but  not  an  indecent  one  from 
theirs.  The  man  who  wishes  to  keep  clean  in 
Japan  must  not  leave  the  beaten  tourist  track,  un-  ' 
less  he  is  prepared  to  undergo  over  and  over  again 
the  above  ordeal ; and  for  the  European  lady  it 
is  obvious  that  the  situation  would  be  even  more 
trying. 

Except  in  quite  small  villages  the  foreigner  need 
not  patronize  the  public  baths,  for  he  will  find  a 
bath  on  the  lines  above  described  in  his  hotel ; but 
even  when  he  does,  he  need  not  excite  attention  or 


40 


TRAVELLING  AND  ACCOMMODATION 


curiosity  among  the  natives  unless  his  eccentric  be- 
havior occasions  it. 

The  vexed  question  as  to  how  one  should  deal 
with  Japanese  food  is  a very  favorite  theme  with 
authors,  and  it  is  treated  in  a very  great  variety  of 
manners.  I read  in  a recent  book  how  a European 
married  a charming  Japanese  lady,  and  soon  tired 
of  her  because  she  would  insist  on  eating  pork 
cooked  in  rancid  oil.  Where  she  acquired  the  habit 
did  not  transpire ; but  the  fact  remains  that  the 
Japanese  do  not  eat  pork  as  a native  dish  at  all, 
and  do  not  use  oil  of  any  sort  in  their  cooking. 
Possibly  the  author  was  confounding  Japan  with 
China  or  Spain.  The  best  authorities  agree  gener- 
ally that  Japanese  food  is  usually  extremely  clean, 
and  is  served  artistically  and  most  delicately;  that 
some  of  it  is  rather  eatable,  but  that  most  is  ex- 
tremely nasty  to  the  taste ; and  I think  that,  with 
hardly  one  exception,  they  maintain  that  a Euro- 
pean cannot  live  on  it  satisfactorily  for  any  length 
of  time. 

I quote  the  above  opinion  because  I believe  it 
to  be  the  right  one  to  go  upon,  in  spite  of  the  fact 
that  it  does  not  in  the  least  accord  with  my  personal 
experience.  There  is  no  doubt,  however,  that  nine- 
ty-nine Englishmen  out  of  a hundred,  after  reading 
the  above  opinion  and  then  my  own,  would,  if  they 
were  to  go  to  Japan  and  try  the  experiment  for 
themselves,  come  to  the  conclusion  that  most  of 
what  I am  about  to  say  would  not  coincide  with 
their  own  experiences. 


41 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 


It  is  possible  that  the  nature  of  my  training  in 
the  art  of  relishing  Japanese  food  has  unfitted  me 
for  looking  at  it  from  the  point  of  view  of  the 
foreigner;  for,  after  a very  lengthy  and  severe  ill- 
ness, I was  brought  back  to  life,  or  at  all  events  to 
health,  upon  it  as  my  staple,  and  for  a long  time  my 
only  solid  diet. 

During  the  long  period  of  convalescence  which 
followed  my  illness,  I acquire'd  naturally  and  without 
effort  the  handling  of  chopsticks,  which  I was  en- 
couraged to  use,  I am  told,  partly  because  they  were 
lighter  than  a spoon  and  fork,  and  could  be  manipu- 
lated by  one  hand,  and  partly  because  the  doctors 
wished  me  to  have  only  very  little  food  at  a time, 
and  to  make  the  process  of  disposing  of  it  as 
lengthy  as  possible. 

Thus  it  was  that  by  the  time  I was  well  again  I 
had  acquired  a liking  for  Japanese  food,  and  could 
manipulate  it  without  difficulty  in  the  native  manner. 

On  several  occasions  after  this,  when  right  away 
in  the  interior,  I had  occasion  to  live  for  weeks  at  a 
time  on  this  diet,  often  of  a very  bad  quality,  and 
I can  only  say  that  while  I often  wished  I could 
indulge  in  a beefsteak  and  bread,  it  was  no  sort  of 
an  effort  to  me  to  do  without  these  luxuries,  and 
I found  that  the  diet  agreed  with  me  in  every  way. 

I often  think  that  the  real  reason  why  the  foreigner 
dislikes  Japanese  food  is  not  so  much  on  account  of 
its  ingredients  as  because  of  the  difficulty  he  has  in 
getting  it  comfortably.  I think  that  the  guests  at 
a Mansion  House  banquet  would  not  do  justice  to 

42 


TRAVELLING  AND  ACCOMMODATION 


the  viands,  however  choice  they  might  be,  if  five 
minutes  after  they  had  sat  down  they  were  all  suffer- 
ing from  pins-and-needles,  cramp  or  numbness  in 
their  lower  extremities,  and  if  they  found  that  three- 
quarters  of  their  food  was  slipping  from  their  fork 
every  time  they  raised  it  to  their  lips.  They  would 
get  bored  at  their  constant  failures,  and  at  their 
uncomfortable  position,  and  would  leave  the  table 
hungry.  This  is  why  we  are  told  that  it  is  impos- 
sible for  Europeans  to  satisfy  their  natural  appetite 
on  a Japanese  diet.  For  eating  Japanese  food  in 
the  native  manner,  until  one  can  use  the  chopsticks 
easily,  is  something  like  trying  to  help  one’s  self 
to  soup  with  a fork ; and  the  attitude  one  assumes 
on  the  floor  of  a Japanese  house  does  not  lend  itself 
to  extreme  comfort  from  our  point  of  view  for  more 
than  a minute  or  two  at  a time. 

In  briefly  sketching  a few  of  the  phases  con- 
nected with  travel  and  accommodation  in  Japan  at 
the  present  day,  my  object  has  been  to  show  that 
while  we  hear  so  much  of  the  modern  progress  of 
the  Japanese,  a progress  which  in  a book  of  this  sort 
I must  necessarily  emphasize,  we  must  not  run 
away  with  the  supposition  that  Japan  proper  is  at 
all  like  a Western  country,  or  that  the  people  in  it 
are  at  all  like  Western  people.  My  personal  impres- 
sion is  that  they  will  not  become  so  within  measur- 
able time ; for,  while  it  may  answer  their  purpose  to 
master  our  sciences  and  our  methods,  they  will 
merely  apply  them  to  their  style  of  life,  and  not 
necessarily  adopt  our  style.  They  require  modern 

43 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 


soldiers  and  sailors  and  business  men,  and  ships 
and  railways  and  telegraphs  and  machinery,  to 
enable  them  to  keep  pace  with  their  foreign  com- 
petitors and  to  keep  their  country  for  themselves. 
But  all  these  things  can  be  adopted  without  radi- 
cally changing  the  methods  of  conducting  their 
homes,  that  is  to  say,  of  their  inner  life.  At  all 
events,  we  may  take  it  that  domestic  Japan  will  be 
the  last  feature  in  that  country  to  give  way  to  what 
we  are  pleased  to  term  “ civilization.” 

No  doubt,  when  the  whole  country  has  been 
thrown  open  to  the  foreigner,  foreign  influence  may 
make  itself  felt  in  domestic  matters  to  a degree 
which  has  hitherto  been  impossible,  owing  to  the 
restrictions  entailed  by  the  treaty-port  system,  but 
it  is  too  early  to  indulge  in  conjectures  on  that 
subject.  At  the  present  day  one  can  travel  through- 
out the  greater  portion  of  Japan,  that  portion  which 
is  seldom  visited  by  the  tourist,  without  seeing  much 
to  indicate  the  great  progress  that  has  been  made 
at  the  ports  and  the  great  political,  industrial,  and 
trading  centres. 

Away  from  these  one  sees  occasionally  a build- 
ing which  does  not  look  quite  Japanese  in  style,  the 
inevitable  telegraph  wire,  the  railway  track,  and  the 
policemen  in  European  dress.  In  the  shops  we 
find  side  by  side  with  the  simple  and  artistic  utensils 
of  the  Japanese  household  modern  clocks  of  vulgar 
design  and  cheap  and  ugly  oil-lamps ; the  beautiful, 
though  cumbersome,  Japanese  umbrella  is  being 
replaced  by  the  utilitarian  European  “ gamp  ” in  its 


44 


TRAVELLING  AND  ACCOMMODATION 


most  unprepossessing  form ; the  round  felt  hat  is 
en  evidence  now  as  a national  head -gear;  and  one 
comes  across  an  odd-looking  bicycle  or  two,  tinned 
provisions,  matches,  beer,  and  lemonade,  even  in  the 
villages. 

It  is  true  that  in  some  of  the  large  cities  certain 
wealthy  men  have  added  foreign  rooms  to  their 
houses,  but  this  has  not  been  for  the  purpose  of 
living  in  them.  It  merely  means  that  they  have 
been  built  to  be  used  on  occasion,  possibly  for  re- 
ceiving foreigners,  or  for  entertaining  Japanese 
friends  in  a European  style. 

There  is,  as  previously  explained,  a slight  tendency 
on  the  part  of  the  Japanese  to  modify  and  strength- 
en their  diet,  which  may  be  due  to  change  in  the 
physical  education  of  the  Japanese  of  to-day,  and  to 
the  spread  of  the  knowledgeof  Western  medical  and 
hygienic  sciences ; but  this  feature  has  not  yet  de- 
veloped to  any  marked  degree  away  from  the  great 
centres.  Still,  such  as  it  is,  it  forms  the  most  dis- 
tinct feature  of  change  in  the  domestic  routine  of 
the  country  up  to  the  present  time. 

45 


CHAPTER  III 


THE  STANDING  OF  THE  FOREIGNER 

We  are  asked  to  accept  as  a fact  beyond  dispute 
or  question  that  the  Japanese  are  without  gratitude 
to  the  foreigner  for  the  great  good  he  has  wrought 
in  modernizing  their  country.  We  are  told  that  it 
is  the  foreigner  who  has  made  the  New  Japan,  and 
it  is  impressed  upon  us  that  in  so  doing  he  has 
conferred  an  inestimable  blessing  on  the  Japanese 
nation. 

Certain  it  is  that  modern  progress  in  Japan  could 
not  have  arrived  at  its  present  state  unless  the  for- 
eigner’s aid  had  been  called  in  on  every  conceivable 
modern  subject,  and  unless  the  foreigner  had  given 
that  aid  unsparingly  and  with  great  skill.  Certain 
it  is  that  without  the  possession  of  a knowledge  of 
Western  methods  the  Japanese  nation  would  be  de- 
clining in  power,  or  perhaps  might  years  ago  have 
been  absorbed  by  Russia  or  some  other  State. 
Therefore  it  may  be  taken  that  the  benefits  so 
lavishly  bestowed  by  the  foreigner  have  been  of  a 
real  and  tangible  nature. 

But  in  justice  we  must  admit — firstly,  that  the 
foreigner,  in  carrying  out  his  work,  has  had  to  do 
with  extremely  apt  and  eager  pupils ; and,  secondly, 

46 


THE  STANDING  OF  THE  FOREIGNER 


that  the  Japanese  have  been  willing  to  pay  for  any 
foreign  advice  they  have  applied  for. 

In  many  countries  we  are  obliged  to  force  our 
methods  on  the  natives  if  we  wish  to  have  them 
adopted,  but  in  Japan  this  has  never  been  neces- 
sary, as  far  as  education  is  concerned,  since  the 
Americans  obliged  the  Japanese  Government  to 
open  certain  treaty-ports  to  the  foreigner  in  1854. 

Speaking  generally,  and  excluding  Legation  and 
Consular  officials,  there  are  four  classes  of  foreign- 
ers in  Japan,  and  the  benefits  conferred  on  the 
Japanese  by  them  are  of  a varied  nature. 

1st.  The  business  foreigners.  These  may  justly  claim  to  have  built 
up  the  international  trade  of  the  country. 

2d.  The  missionaries.  These  may  justly  claim  to  have  taught  Eng- 
lish to  many  of  the  Japanese. 

3d.  The  passing  visitors.  These  may  justly  claim  to  have  spent  a 
certain  amount  of  money  in  the  country. 

4th.  The  few  technical  advisers  and  others  who,  for  one  reason  or 
another,  live  among  the  Japanese.  These  may  justly  claim 
to  have  done  far  more  than  all  the  rest  of  the  foreigners  in 
bringing  about  the  enlightened  Japan  of  the  present  day. 

One  of  the  principal  grievances  of  the  business 
foreigner  is  that  now  that  the  Japanese  are  capable 
of  carrying  on  much  of  their  international  trade 
without  his  assistance  they  are  passing  him  over ; 
and  it  is  precisely  the  business  man  who  is  the 
most  bitter  in  his  cry  about  the  ingratitude  of  the 
Japanese.  However,  he,  at  all  events,  ought  to  have 
the  consolation  of  knowing  that  in  the  past  he  has 
been  amply  compensated  in  hard  cash  for  his  enter- 
prise. It  would  be  straining  a point  to  assume  that 

47 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 


the  motives  of  the  foreign  trader  in  establishing 
himself  in  Japan  were  purely  of  a philanthropic 
nature : nor  would  it  be  natural  or  right  that  such 
should  have  been  the  case.  Therefore  one  cannot 
see  how,  even  if  the  Japanese  of  to-day  are  not  such 
profitable  customers  as  in  times  gone  by,  the  busi- 
ness foreigners  can  have  any  very  just  claim  against 
them  for  want  of  consideration  on  this  particular 
count.  They  have,  however,  every  reason  to  com- 
plain of  the  lines  on  which  many  of  the  Japanese 
conduct  their  foreign  business. 

The  fact  of  the  matter  is  that  the  various  foreign 
governments  have  not  studied  the  interests  of,  or 
backed  up,  their  business  compatriots  in  Japan;  and 
under  these  circumstances  it  is  hardly  fair  for  us  to 
lay  all  the  blame  on  the  Japanese  if  they  have  taken 
advantage  of  this  fact. 

International  gratitude  of  any  sort  is  a very  doubt- 
ful quantity,  and  not  to  be  relied  upon  at  the  best  of 
times ; and  international  business  gratitude  is  prac- 
tically non-existent,  unless  there  is  a solid  business 
moral  at  the  bottom  of  it,  and  then  it  is  no  longer  a 
question  of  gratitude,  but  of  interest. 

It  is  hard  to  understand  why  we  should  claim  so 
much  business  gratitude  from  the  Japanese,  for  it 
would  certainly  never  enter  our  heads  to  expect  such 
a quality  in  the  French  or  Germans,  or  anybody 
else  with  whom  we  deal ; and  if  we  are  to  judge 
by  the  Continental  press,  it  will  be  seen  that  the 
people  of  those  nations  do  not  consider  that  English 
people  are  overburdened  with  this  ideal  virtue. 

48 


THE  STANDING  OF  THE  FOREIGNER 


From  the  missionary  point  of  view,  the  Japanese 
no  doubt  display  their  ingratitude  by  accepting  a 
free  education  and  refusing  to  adopt  Christianity. 
But  unfortunately  the  missionaries  have  not  yet 
come  to  an  agreement  between  themselves  as  to 
the  lines  on  which  Christianity  should  be  preached, 
and  consequently  a Japanese,  if  he  were  to  feel  in- 
inclined  to  adopt  Christianity,  may  be  excused  if  he 
does  not  know  which  of  the  many  conflicting  sec- 
tions of  that  faith  he  ought  to  follow. 

The  tourists,  on  their  part,  complain  of  Japanese 
ingratitude  when  they  find  that  after  treating  their 
guide  very  liberally  he  has  been  taking  a commis- 
sion on  everything  that  they  have  been  purchasing, 
and  otherwise  abusing  their  confidence.  No  doubt 
such  people  fully  expected  to  come  across  primitive, 
unsophisticated  man  in  the  shape  of  a Japanese 
treaty-port  guide.  On  finding  their  guides  to  be  no 
more  honest  than  is  usual  with  the  tourist  guides  in 
highly  civilized  countries  nearer  home,  the  visitor 
becomes  unjustly  indignant  with  Japanese  methods 
when  he  reflects  that  he  could  have  arranged  to 
have  been  robbed  in  a similar  and  more  extensive 
manner  without  going  half-way  round  the  world. 

With  regard  to  the  position  of  foreign  advisers,  it 
is  often  alleged,  though  not  as  a rule  by  the  advisers 
themselves,  that  the  Japanese  treat  them  very  un- 
fairly. Unless,  however,  we  are  to  assume  that  the 
discharging  of  their  instructors  as  soon  as  they  feel 
that  their  own  knowledge  is  sufficient  to  enable 
them  to  get  along  without  them  constitutes  a sign 

49 


D 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 


of  ingratitude,  we  cannot  call  the  Japanese  abso- 
lutely ungrateful. 

The  practice  of  discharging  the  foreigner  as  soon 
as  possible  has  been  invariably  adopted  in  Japan; 
and,  since  the  war  with  China,  this  policy  has  been 
much  more  marked  than  was  the  case  previously. 
This  is  natural  enough,  as  the  Japanese  no  doubt 
became  unduly  elated  at  their  successes,  and  have 
been  wont  to  overrate,  to  some  extent,  their  power 
of  getting  along  unaided.  But  undue  elation  and 
self-confidence  follow  as  a matter  of  course  with  any 
nation  which  has  just  carried  out  a successful  war; 
and  certain  it  is  that  the  behavior  of  the  Japanese, 
after  their  marvellous  achievement  in  this  way, 
would  compare  favorably  with  what  might  be  ex- 
pected in  the  case  of  any  other  nation  in  the  world 
under  similar  conditions. 

After  all  is  said  and  done,  we  cannot  get  away 
from  the  fact  that  we,  in  England  and  elsewhere, 
are  in  the  habit  of  dispensing  with  our  instructors, 
native  or  foreign,  as  soon  as  they  have  finished  in- 
structing us.  Our  boys  do  not  remain  with  their 
army  and  navy  crammers  after  they  have  passed 
their  examinations;  and  comparatively  few  of  us 
ever  set  eyes  on  our  teachers  again  after  we  have 
completed  our  education.  Yet  we  should  not  ex- 
pect to  be  charged  with  ingratitude  on  that  account. 

If  we,  in  England,  drop  out  of  touch  with  our 
former  instructors  naturally,  and  as  a matter  of 
course,  and  when  our  methods  of  life  are  identical 
with  theirs,  it  is  only  to  be  expected  that  when 

5° 


THE  STANDING  OF  THE  FOREIGNER 


the  business  contact  is  over  between  the  Japanese 
pupil  and  the  foreign  instructor,  however  kindly  a 
feeling  may  exist  between  them,  they  should  gradu- 
ally but  surely  fall  apart,  for  their  ways  of  living  do 
not  run  on  similar  lines.  I am  bound  to  say  that  in 
conversation  with  many  Japanese,  who  had  passed 
through  the  hands  of  various  foreign  instructors 
during  the  course  of  their  education,  I have  found 
that  they  invariably  spoke  with  respect,  and  some- 
times with  affection,  of  their  former  teachers. 

That  the  Japanese  have  been  well  served  by 
their  advisers  and  instructors  in  nearly  every  branch 
of  foreign  learning  is  expressing  the  matter  in  un- 
duly mild  terms.  To  one  whose  business  it  is  to 
study  the  modern  developments  that  have  taken 
place  in  that  country,  and  to  note  the  solid  founda- 
tion on  which  the  modern  knowledge  of  the  Japan- 
ese has  taken  root,  the  question  as  to  which  was 
the  greater  factor  in  the  creation  of  the  New  Japan 
— the  aptitude  of  the  pupil  or  the  conscientiously 
applied  skill  of  the  instructor  — must  continually 
occur  to  him.  And  he  will  find  it  difficult  to  an- 
swer. 

The  foreigners  who  are  still  retained  in  this 
capacity  are  mostly  English,  with  a few  Ameri- 
cans and  Germans,  and  a Frenchman  or  two. 

Speaking  generally,  England  may  claim  to  have 
taken  the  largest  part  in  organizing  the  navy, 
finance,  communications,  mining,  and  industrial 
work  ; Germany  devoted  herself  mostly  to  the  army, 
medicine,  and  several  scientific  subjects.  America 

51 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 


has  had  a hand  in  almost  all  departments,  more  par- 
ticularly with  regard  to  educational  and  industrial 
matters;  and  to  France  belongs  the  chief  credit  of 
having  given  the  preliminary  advice  which  led  to 
the  formation  of  the  existing  legal  code,  and  of  or- 
ganizing on  modern  lines  the  Yokosuka  dock-yard, 
which  until  now  has  been  considered  the  leading 
naval  depot  of  the  country.  An  interesting  feature 
about  Yokosuka  is  that  centuries  ago  it  was  the 
place  of  residence  of  the  first  foreign  adviser  whom 
the  Japanese  ever  employed,  one  “Will”  Adams, 
an  Englishman,  who  in  1600  was  cast  ashore  in  a 
storm  while  piloting  a Dutch  fleet.  If  the  affection 
of  the  Japanese  for  their  foreign  advisers  were  as 
strong  to-day  as  it  was  then,  one  could  not  accuse 
them  of  any  want  of  appreciation.  For  their  attach- 
ment to  Mr.  Adams  was  so  marked  that  they  would 
not  let  him  return  home  to  his  wife  and  family,  but 
retained  him  in  the  mixed  capacity  of  shipbuilder-in- 
chief and  agent  for  the  reception  of  foreigners,  found 
him  a Japanese  wife,  treated  him  with  every  honor, 
and  raised  a monument  to  his  memory  over  his  grave, 
which  the  guide-books  tell  us  is  “ revered  to  this  day.” 
The  position  of  the  foreign  advisers  who  still  re- 
main in  the  service  of  the  Japanese,  though  modi- 
fied, is  by  no  means  less  important  than  it  was.  In 
times  gone  by,  and  not  so  very  long  ago,  they  were 
the  active  responsible  directors.  They  had  the 
organizing  and  practical  working  out  of  their  vari- 
ous subjects,  and  carried  on  the  management  of 
their  respective  departments. 

52 


THE  STANDING  OF  THE  FOREIGNER 


The  Japanese,  with  their  growing  knowledge, 
and  their  anxiety  to  take  the  reins  into  their  own 
hands,  have  now  assumed  the  active  direction  of 
their  own  affairs  in  almost  every  branch  of  their 
modern  organizations.  Thus  the  foreign  employe 
is  no  longer  on  the  executive  staff,  but  is  retained 
purely  as  a consultant.  Often,  no  doubt,  it  would 
be  better  for  the  Japanese  if  they  would  allow  the 
foreigner  more  direct  control  than  he  has,  for  their 
own  knowledge  on  all  subjects  cannot  yet  have 
developed  entirely.  But  it  was  merely  a question 
of  time  as  to  when  this  change  should  come,  and  if 
the  Japanese  have  somewhat  anticipated  the  ideal 
moment,  they  have  at  all  events  retained  a certain, 
though  limited,  number  of  their  foreign  employes 
ready  to  their  hand  as  advisers  in  case  of  need. 

And  here  again  the  Japanese  have  shown  won- 
derful tact  in  their  choice  of  those  whom  they  have 
retained,  for  while,  doubtless,  they  have  allowed 
many  good  men  to  leave  the  country,  for  one  reason 
or  another,  they  have  realized  that  it  was  necessary 
to  make  it  worth  the  while  of  equally  efficient  ex- 
perts to  remain  with  them. 

The  number  has  dwindled  down,  it  is  true,  very 
materially,  but  it  is  possible  that  it  has  just  now 
reached  its  lowest  ebb  for  some  time  to  come,  as 
there  is,  I believe,  a slight  tendency  to  engage  a 
few  new  men,  at  all  events,  in  temporary  capacities. 

The  relations  between  the  Japanese  and  their 
foreign  advisers,  if  not  of  an  effusive  nature,  are 
often  cordial  and  sympathetic,  and  while  there  must 

53 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 


arise,  between  people  belonging  to  nations  so  widely 
different  in  their  traditions  and  methods,  questions 
and  situations  which  both  cannot  look  at  from  a 
similar  stand-point,  their  attitude  towards  each  other 
is,  generally  speaking,  one  of  mutual  respect. 

The  irony  of  the  foreign  advisers’  position  lies 
in  the  fact  that,  while  many  of  them  are  men  with 
a world-wide  reputation,  whose  advice  in  their  own 
or  in  most  other  countries  would  not  only  command 
respect  but  would  bear  a high  market  value,  and 
while  they  are  paid  by  the  Japanese  to  advise  them, 
their  advice  is  very  often  ignored.  The  fact  of  the 
matter  is  that  the  New  Japan  which,  when  in  its 
infancy,  left  herself  in  the  hands  of  the  foreigner, 
is  anxious,  now  that  the  people  of  the  country  are 
progressing  in  modern  accomplishments,  to  feel  that 
she  is  acting  on  her  own  initiative,  even  when  mis- 
takes are  made  by  so  doing,  and  when  she  has  to 
suffer  in  consequence. 

The  state  of  the  modern  development  of  the 
country  may  be  said  to  have  reached  that  awkward 
age  at  which  the  youth  is  anxious  to  shake  off 
preceptorial  control,  and  is  perhaps  a little  ashamed 
of  acknowledging  that,  here  and  there,  there  are 
a few  remaining  leading-strings  which  it  will  not 
be  politic  to  detach  altogether  just  yet.  Thus  the' 
Japanese  keep  their  foreign  advisers  somewhat  in 
the  background ; and  it  is  perhaps  for  this  reason 
that  we  hear  little  or  nothing  about  this  small  body 
of  highly  educated  and  interesting  men  who  have 
done  and  are  doing  so  much  for  that  country. 

54 


THE  STANDING  OF  THE  FOREIGNER 


The  casual  visitor,  the  casual  book-writer,  haunts 
the  treaty-ports ; and,  as  he  finds  that  the  treaty- 
port  residents  do  not  mix  in  any  way  with  the 
Japanese,  and  never  have,  he  is  apt  to  draw  the  con- 
clusion, when  he  goes  to  Tokio  and  sees  some  of 
the  big  modern  institutions  there,  that  the  Japanese 
have  “done  it  all  by  themselves,”  and  he  naturally 
wonders  how  they  managed  to  do  it.  Consequently 
he  will  very  possibly  draw  an  exaggerated  estimate 
of  their  capabilities. 

Possibly  such  a man  will  hardly  make  the  acquaint- 
ance of  any  of  the  foreign  employes  who  live  there, 
for  the  latter  have  neither  an  interest  in  business 
matters  nor  any  particular  wish  to  cultivate  the 
society  of  strangers ; and,  living  away  from  the 
coast,  they  are  not  so  often  pestered  by  the  letter- 
of-introduction  fiend,  as  is  the  case  with  their  long- 
suffering  compatriots  within  the  concession  limits. 

The  casual  visitor,  if  he  happens  to  come  in  contact 
with  the  Japanese  of  a respectable  class,  nearly  always 
comes  away  with  the  idea,  not  only  that  they  are 
an  extremely  agreeable,  intelligent,  and  enlightened 
people,  which  is  true  enough,  but  that  he  has  made 
a favorable  impression  on  them,  which  is  often  not 
the  case.  This  is  due  to  two  reasons — the  conduct 
of  such  Japanese  will  usually  be  courteous  and  very 
modern,  and  they  will  nearly  always  be  glad  to 
have  an  opportunity  of  conversing  with  a newly 
arrived  foreigner.  The  visitor  in  Tokio,  with  an 
introduction  or  two  to  Japanese  business  people, 
will  have  no  difficulty  whatever  in  finding  plenty 

55 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 


of  educated  Japanese  men  ready  to  take  him  about 
and  to  put  themselves  to  no  end  of  trouble  for  him. 
But  this  is  not  necessarily  due  to  friendship,  but 
rather  to  an  intelligent  curiosity. 

The  Japanese  are  often  glad  to  meet  a new-comer, 
either  to  practise  talking  English  with  him,  or  to 
learn  his  ideas,  so  that  they  can  compare  his  views 
with  those  of  the  resident  foreigner.  The  new- 
comer is  apt  to  imagine  that  he  has  made  unusual 
progress,  and  cannot  understand  how  it  is  that  the 
local  foreigner  persists  in  telling  him  that  the  J apanese 
are  difficult  people  to  get  on  with,  and  that  to  obtain 
an  insight  into  their  character  and  feelings  would 
mean  the  solving  of  one  of  the  most  complicated 
problems  in  the  world.  He  considers  that  he  has 
found  it  all  out  at  the  end  of  a week ; for  he  has 
mistaken  a passing  interest,  created  by  curiosity  in 
a passing  man,  for  a frank  and  sudden  friendship 
for  which  there  would  really  be  no  raison  d'etre . 
He  will  find  that,  if  he  remains  in  the  country  for 
any  length  of  time,  unless  he  can  manage  to  sustain 
that  feeling  of  curiosity  about  his  personality  in  the 
mind  of  his  Japanese  acquaintance,  the  friendship 
so  suddenly  born  will  as  suddenly  die. 

I do  not  mean  to  suggest  by  the  above  that  bona 
fide  friendships  do  not  exist  between  individual 
Japanese  and  individual  foreigners;  but  that  the 
general  bearing  of  the  Japanese  is  such  as  to  im- 
press the  newly  arrived  foreigner  with  the  fallacious 
notion  that  he  has  rapidly  formed  a number  of 
friends. 


56 


THE  STANDING  OF  THE  FOREIGNER 


The  Japanese  are  not  fond  of  foreigners  in  the 
abstract,  and  I do  not  know  why  one  should  expect 
them  to  be  so.  In  their  heart  of  hearts  very  few 
people  in  any  country  are  fond  of  foreigners  as  a 
class.  Foreigners  all  over  the  world  are  tolerated 
with  a greater  or  less  degree  of  cordiality  according 
to  the  temperament  of  the  natives  of  the  country 
of  their  adoption,  and  according  to  the  amount  of 
advantage  their  presence  may  occasion  to  that 
country.  In  Europe  we  have  recognized  that,  in 
these  modern  days  of  international  intercourse,  the 
foreigner  is  a necessity,  perhaps  a necessary  evil, 
but  a necessity ; and  he  is  treated  with  a show  of 
cordiality  which  in  many  individual  cases  ripens 
into  a real  friendship.  Such  is  the  case  in  Japan, 
and  we  have  no  right  to  expect  more. 

There  are  many  real  and  solid  friendships  exist- 
ing between  individual  foreigners  and  individual 
Japanese;  but  in  the  first  flush  of  the  manhood  of 
the  New  Japan,  and  with  their  successful  war  in 
the  immediate  background,  the  general  feeling  of 
the  Japanese  just  now  is  undoubtedly  that  the 
foreigner  will  soon  be  a useless  person.  Thus, 
among  the  many  things  which  they  have  borrowed 
and  adapted  from  the  foreigner,  and  one  which 
has  met  with  the  greatest  popularity,  is  the  cheap 
war-cry  of  “Japan  for  the  Japanese.”  To  a nation 
which  is  professing  to  run  on  the  lines  of  a broad 
policy,  and  which  is  endeavoring  to  cultivate  a big 
mercantile  marine,  and  to  become  an  international 
carrying  power,  the  fallacy  of  such  a doctrine  should 

57 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 

be  apparent,  and  no  doubt  will  become  so  in  course 
of  time. 

Meanwhile  the  position  of  the  foreigner  in  Japan 
is  a strange  one.  The  presence  of  the  permanent 
business  resident  foreigner  is  resented,  the  mission- 
aries are  treated  with  indifference,  and  the  globe- 
trotter with  curiosity.  Apart  from  the  foreign 
diplomatic  officials,  whose  relations  with  the  Japan- 
ese are  purely  formal,  the  advisers  and  the  few 
business  men  who  live  away  from  the  treaty-ports, 
who  mix  with  the  Japanese,  and  treat  them  on  a 
basis  of  equality,  are,  as  a rule,  the  only  foreigners 
who  can  be  said  to  command  any  real  respect  just 
now. 

In  justice  to  the  Japanese  we  must  remember 
that  it  was  only  the  most  binding  of  laws,  the  con- 
travention of  which  often  entailed  capital  punish- 
ment, that  restrained  this  energetic  people  from 
acquiring  a knowledge  of  the  outer  world  cen- 
turies ago.  When,  therefore,  the  treaty-ports  were 
opened  and  foreigners  began  to  pour  into  them,  it 
was  in  the  natural  order  of  things  that  the  Japanese 
should  rush  to  the  new-comers  for  instruction  and 
advice.  It  did  not  matter  much  what  sort  of  a 
foreigner  the  man  applied  to  might  be — a German 
stoker,  an  English  billiard  marker,  or  an  American 
shoe-black — it  was  certain  that  he  would  be  able 
to  tell  the  Japanese  something  that  they  did  not 
know  before.  Consequently  in  those  days  the 
foreigner,  on  account  of  his  wonderful  knowledge 
on  a variety  of  subjects  with  which  the  Japanese 

58 


THE  STANDING  OF  THE  FOREIGNER 


were  unacquainted,  was  perhaps  an  unduly  exalted 
personage  in  their  then  uneducated  eyes.  Now, 
however,  he  must  suffer  from  the  reaction  due 
to  the  exaggerated  estimate  which  the  Japanese 
formed  of  his  knowledge  in  those  early  days.  The 
tendency  at  the  present  day  is  undoubtedly  to 
unduly  discredit  his  capacity  because  the  Japanese, 
now  that  they  have  acquired  a certain  amount  of 
Western  knowledge  themselves,  are  able  to  appre- 
ciate the  fact  that,  among  the  people  to  whom  they 
were  wont  to  apply  for  advice,  were  some  who  were 
not  perhaps  either  very  highly  educated  or  very 
competent. 

Of  course  this  present  feeling  is  quite  as  unrea- 
sonably pessimistic  as  the  former  was  unreasonably 
optimistic;  for  the  treaty-port  communities,  as  inter- 
national trading  communities  go,  are  certainly  up  to 
the  quality  that  one  might  expect  with  regard  to  re- 
respectability and  business  integrity;  and  among 
the  residents  there  are  many  highly  educated  and 
honorable  men  who  would  do  credit  to  any  com- 
munity in  the  world.  Of  course  there  are  many 
who  do  not  come  up  to  that  standard,  as  all  sorts 
and  conditions  of  men  drift  out  to  those  places.  A 
town  which  has  always  a shifting  population  of  the 
sailors  of  all  nations,  and  other  people  of  noisy 
habits  and  a low  class,  is  hardly  likely  to  offer  a 
good  impression  of  the  foreigner  to  the  Japanese, 
who  naturally  base  their  estimate  of  foreigners 
rather  on  the  noisy  and  aggressive  than  on  the 
quiet  and  respectable  element. 

59 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 


To  bring  home  the  impression  which  is  held  by 
the  Japanese  of  the  foreigner,  I quote  below  from 
the  Japan  Mail  the  translation  of  one  of  Count 
Okuma’s  speeches  on  the  subject : 

“Comparing  Europeans  and  Japanese,  I do  not  think  that  the 
Europeans  then  (thirty  years  ago)  in  Japan  were  a particularly  high 
class  of  persons ; nor  do  I think  that  those  here  now  are  particularly 
high  class.  . On  the  whole,  I think  they  would  not  have  been  reck- 
oned higher  than  middle -class  in  Europe.  Among  diplomatic 
officials  there  may  have  been  men  of  high  standing,  but  the  general 
run  of  merchants  were  of  the  middle  and  lower  classes.  Middle 
and  lower  classes  though  they  did  belong  to,  however,  when  we 
compare  them  with  the  Japanese  of  the  time,  how  great  was  the 
difference  in  the  degree  of  their  civilization.  The  foreigners  living 
in  Yokohama,  Nagasaki,  and  so  forth,  seemed  to  know  everything, 
and  were  many  degrees  superior  to  the  Japanese.  Their  ideas  were 
so  large  that  the  Japanese  were  quite  astounded.  I was  a student 
at  the  time,  and  I remember  that  on  one  occasion,  thinking  that  a 
certain  foreigner  was  a wonderful  scholar,  I went  to  ask  him  a 
question,  but  when  I look  back  now  I recognize  that  he  was  not 
equal  even  to  a Japanese  middle-school  graduate.  Still  I was  sur- 
prised at  the  explanations  I received  from  him.” 


Count  Okuma  is  not  a man  who  speaks  either 
lightly  or  uselessly,  and  is  certainly  one  of  the 
greatest,  if  not  the  greatest,  statesman  in  Japan. 
His  expressions  with  regard  to  the  foreigner,  above 
quoted,  may  be  taken  as  affording  a representative 
and  moderate  opinion  as  held  by  the  better-class 
Japanese  of  to-day,  and  I quote  them  as  such. 
There  still  remain  fiery  orators  who  advocate  the 
suppression  of  all  foreigners  from  time  to  time,  but 
the  Japanese  press  as  a rule  ridicule  and  condemn 
the  speeches  of  such  gentlemen. 

It  is  only  when  one  knows  a Japanese  extremely 
well  that  he  will  state  his  real  opinion  of  the  for- 

60 


COUNT  OKUMA 


Photographed  by  Ogawa 


THE  STANDING  OF  THE  FOREIGNER 


eigner,  and  when  he  does  it  is  often  both  sweeping 
and  uncomplimentary.  In  conversation  with  a Jap- 
anese gentleman  who  is  well  known  both  in  Japan 
and  in  Europe,  on  the  question  of  the  anti-foreign 
feeling,  he  remarked  that  the  Englishman  in  Eng- 
land was  of  quite  a different  stamp  from  the  Eng- 
lishman in  Japan;  as  the  latter  was  totally  unable 
to  distinguish  the  difference  between  a Japanese 
gentleman  and  a coolie,  with  the  result  that  “ the 
local  foreigners  treated  all  Japanese  like  rikisha 
boys.” 

This  may  hold  good  with  regard  to  certain  local 
foreigners  and  tourists,  but  it  is  not  at  all  justified 
in  the  case  of  many  of  the  residents. 

I feel  that  I am  plagiarizing  everybody  who  has 
written  on  the  subject  of  Japan  when  I say  that  the 
term  “ Ketojin  ” or  “ hairy  barbarian  ” is  the  con- 
temptuous method  employed  by  the  Japanese  to 
designate  the  foreigner.  The  freedom,  however, 
with  which  this  expression  is  employed  by  the  Jap- 
anese of  the  present  day,  who  usually  take  it  for 
granted  that  no  foreigner  understands  anything  of 
their  language,  makes  it  very  obvious  that  the  spirit 
of  contempt  which  centuries  ago  gave  birth  to  this 
opprobrious  title  still  holds  good  to  a great  extent. 

After  all,  the  people  of  most  nations  have  meth- 
ods of  designating  the  people  of  others  by  means  of 
epithets  which  are  neither  less  forcible  nor  in  better 
taste,  and,  while  sometimes  the  employment  of  such 
terms  may  add  to  the  gayety,  it  seldom  affects  detri- 
mentally the  relations  of  the  nation  in  question. 


CHAPTER  IV 


PRESENT  DAY  EDUCATION 

The  earliest  authenticated  educational  code  in 
Japan  was  promulgated  during  the  first  years  of 
the  eighth  century  in  the  reign  of  the  Emperor 
Mombu. 

As  educational  codes  go,  it  was  of  course  primi- 
tive enough,  providing  as  it  did  merely  for  a cer- 
tain amount  of  instruction  for  Court  officials.  But 
all  things  must  have  a beginning,  and  the  example 
afforded  by  this  particular  code,  with  its  narrow 
scope,  was  soon  followed  and  improved  upon.  The 
educational  circle  soon  after  expanded  until  it  em- 
braced the  samurai , who,  as  a class,  can  perhaps 
best  be  described  as  corresponding  to  something 
between  the  knights  and  the  squires  who  were 
retained  in  the  service  of  our  barons  in  the  days  of 
feudalism  in  England. 

At  that  time  the  complete  samurai  was  expected 
to  be  proficient  in  etiquette,  horsemanship,  archery, 
music,  reading,  writing,  and  arithmetic ; that  is  to 
say,  he  had  to  attain  seven  accomplishments,  the 
last  four  of  which  were  not  considered  at  all  neces- 
sary to  his  British  equivalent  at  the  period  in  ques- 
tion. 


62 


PRESENT  DAY  EDUCATION 


However,  it  was  not  until  the  commencement  of 
the  Meiji  era,  a little  over  thirty  years  ago,  when 
the  Shogunate  came  to  an  end,  that  education  of  a 
solid  description  spread  downward  in  any  marked 
degree  below  the  official  classes. 

Kioto,  the  ancient  capital  of  Japan,  may  be  said 
to  have  been  the  birthplace  of  the  first  properly  or- 
ganized attempt  at  a general  system  of  academical 
instruction,  and  this  event  took  place  in  1868,  when 
an  Educational  Board  was  started  in  that  city. 

The  schools  which  had  been  authorized  during 
the  regime  of  the  Tokugawa  Shogunate,  and  had 
been  run  in  an  unsystematic  manner,  were  reconsti- 
tuted, and  others  were  opened  on  somewhat  new 
lines  ; and  eventually  the  whole  system  was  brought 
under  the  direct  control  of  the  Government  Depart- 
ment of  Education  established  in  1871. 

This  date  may  be  fixed  as  the  starting-point  of 
education  in  Japan  on  modern  or  Western  lines,  for 
at  this  period  commissioners  were  despatched  by  the 
Government  to  the  various  civilized  countries  to 
report  as  to  the  best  means  of  bringing  Japan  into 
educational  line  with  the  most  advanced  of  foreign 
nations. 

The  immediate  result  of  this  was  the  foundation 
of  a code  which,  in  substance  and  in  fact,  was  prac- 
tically identical  with  that  in  force  in  the  United 
States  at  the  time,  and  I believe  I am  right  in  stat- 
ing that  the  first  foreign  adviser  to  the  Japanese 
Government  on  educational  matters  was  an  Ameri- 
can, Mr.  David  Murray. 


63 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 

The  Mikado’s  edict  as  to  the  aims  of  the  educa- 
tional system,  rendered  freely  in  English,  was  as 
follows : 

“ All  knowledge,  from  that  essential  for  ordinary  requirements, 
to  the  higher  accomplishments  necessary  to  prepare  officers,  land- 
owners,  merchants,  artists,  physicians,  etc.,  for  their  respective  call- 
ings, is  acquired  by  learning.  It  is  intended  that  henceforth  edu- 
cation shall  be  so  diffused  that  there  may  not  be  a village  with  an 
ignorant  family,  nor  a family  with  an  ignorant  member.” 

Such  a programme  was  ambitious  enough  in  all 
conscience,  and  would  seem  to  indicate  an  ideal 
which  has  not  up  till  now  been  attained  in  any 
known  country;  but,  ambitious  as  it  was,  the  Japan- 
ese have  never  lost  sight  of  it,  and  probably  never 
will,  until  they  have  reached  as  near  to  its  accom- 
plishment as  can  ever  be  attained  when  one  is  striv- 
ing after  the  impossible. 

Education  and  the  educational  code  encountered 
many  vicissitudes,  and  underwent  constant  revision ; 
but,  however  chaotic  its  condition,  its  progress  was 
always  in  the  right  direction  ; the  next  notable  step 
being  the  founding  of  the  Imperial  University  of 
Tokio  in  1 877,  out  of  a nucleus  formed  of  various 
then  existing  schools. 

By  that  time  many  foreign  professors  had  been 
imported  from  England,  America,  Germany,  and 
France,  and  the  higher  branches  of  learning,  such 
as  law,  medicine,  science,  and  art,  were  in  full 
swing. 

Passing  to  more  recent  times,  I think  in  1882  or 
1 883,  the  general  system  of  education  which  prevails 
to-day  was  inaugurated  by  Viscount  Mori  Arinori, 

64 


VISCOUNT  YOZO  YAMAO 

Minister  of  Education  during  the  early  struggles  of  the 
modern  educational  movement 


PRESENT  DAY  EDUCATION 


a most  energetic  and  enlightened  diplomatist,  who, 
coming  fresh  from  the  go-ahead  influences  of  Wash- 
ington, where  he  had  acted  as  Japanese  Minister, 
was  appointed  Minister  of  Education  in  his  own 
country. 

He  held  this  position  until  he  was  assassinated  in 
1889,  and  during  his  term  of  office  worked  wonders 
in  the  way  of  forwarding  the  education  of  his  fellow- 
countrymen.  He  advocated  strongly  the  policy  of 
a compulsory  and  free  education  for  all,  general  con- 
scription, and  an  enforced  service  under  Govern- 
ment by  the  graduates  for  a given  number  of  years 
after  leaving  college ; the  nature  of  such  service  to 
be  determined  by  the  particular  branch  of  technical 
knowledge  which  an  individual  student  had  attained. 
In  getting  these  strong  precepts  carried  out  he  was 
partially  successful. 

Of  modern  education,  from  its  early  days  until 
comparatively  recent  times,  a writer  in  the  Kokumin- 
no-Tomo  gives  the  following  figures  as  to  the  total 
roll-call  of  students  and  graduates  in  the  various 
educational  establishments  throughout  the  country: 


1873 1,180,000 

1879 2,210,000 

1885 3,180,000 

1891 3,630,000 


Personally  I think  these  figures  are  a little  opti- 
mistic; and  in  any  case  the  accuracy  of  statistics  in 
those  days  was  not  altogether  to  be  depended  on. 
Government  tables,  published  in  November,  1897, 

6s 


E 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 


show  the  following  results  since  years  above  re- 
ferred to : 


l%92 3.698,536 

^93 3,897,401 

^94 4,091,110 

i895 4,290,487 


During  the  same  period  the  increase  in  the  num- 
ber of  schools  of  all  sorts  was  proportionate,  and  as 
follows: 


1892 

1893 

1894 

1895 


25.375 

25.594 

25.637 

28,228 


These  schools  were  made  up  during  1895  the 
following  manner: 


Elementary  Schools  . 26,631 

Apprentices’  Schools 10 

Supplementary  Schools  for  Technical  Instruction  55 

Blind  and  Dumb  Schools 4 

Ordinary  Normal  Schools 47 

Higher  Normal  Schools 2 

Ordinary  Middle  Schools 96 

Higher  Female  Schools 15 

Higher  Middle  Schools 1 

Higher  Schools 6 

Imperial  University 1 

Special  Schools 47 

Technical  Schools 50 

Miscellaneous  Schools 1263 


Total, 28,228 


At  that  date  61.24  per  cent,  of  the  Japanese  who 
were  of  a school-going  age  were  receiving,  at  all 
events,  an  elementary  education  based  on  modern 
principles.  For  the  purpose  of  showing  in  a plain 

66 


PRESENT  DAY  EDUCATION 


manner  the  extent  to  which  education  has  per- 
meated in  the  various  provinces  I give  a special 
map.*  But  though  this  map  is  clear  and  explicit, 
and  although  in  drawing  it  up  I have  followed  the 
best  authenticated  records,  I find  it  exceedingly  diffi- 
cult to  derive  a satisfactory  moral  from  it. 

I cannot  say  that  it  illustrates  anything  in  partic- 
ular, unless  it  be  that  it  goes  to  prove  that  the  un- 
expected always  happens  with  regard  to  Japanese 
matters. 

Before  I went  into  the  question,  I was  sure  that 
I could  have  painted  those  provinces  which  contain 
the  various  treaty -ports  black,  and  have  triumph- 
antly called  attention  to  the  presumptive  fact  that 
the  presence  of  the  foreigner  had  brought  with  it 
the  inevitable  enlightening  result,  and  that  these 
places  were  the  centres  from  which  the  educational 
rays  emanated.  But  although  the  modern  educa- 
tion of  the  Japanese  is  primarily  due  to  the  presence 
of  foreigners,  their  presence  in  given  centres  affords 
no  guide  in  localizing  elementary  tuition  at  the 
present  day.  The  figures  show  us  that  Yokohama 
and  Kobe  are  only  in  second  - rate  educational 
districts,  whereas  Nagasaki  is  in  one  of  the  worst 
educated  provinces — a third-rate  educational  district 
— of  the  island  of  Kyushu;  and  this  in  spite  of  the 
fact  that  Nagasaki  is  at  once  the  most  serious  and 
most  successful  of  missionary  headquarters  in  Japan, 
that  of  the  French  Jesuits. 


* This  map  faces  page  70. 
67 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 


Giving  up  localities  occupied  by  the  foreigner  as 
a bad  job  from  the  point  of  view  of  coloring  my  map, 

I took  it  for  granted  that  Tokio,  the  present  capital, 
the  seat  of  Japanese  enlightenment,  the  city  that 
holds  their  splendid  university,  and  a whole  quarter 
full  of  Protestant  missionaries;  Kioto,  the  birth- 
place of  modern  education ; and  Osaka,  the  great 
industrial  centre,  would  all  come  inside  the  best  ed- 
ucated districts  in  the  country. 

Alas,  Kioto  and  Osaka  are  in  only  second-rate 
educational  districts,  and  Tokio  is  worse  still  — 
third-rate. 

Then  I turned  to  the  geographical  and  geological 
features  of  the  country  for  an  explanation,  but  it  was 
not  forthcoming.  It  is  possible,  I thought,  that 
where  the  country  is  mountainous,  education  will 
be  more  difficult  than  elsewhere,  and  we  shall  con- 
sequently find  the  percentages  of  educated  popula- 
tion reduced  in  those  places — but  not  at  all.  For 
there  is  Fuji,  the  highest  mountain  in  the  country, 
plumped  right  down  in  the  centre  of  a first-class 
educational  district ; and  there  is  the  island  of  Hok- 
kaido, the  sole  remaining  refuge  of  the  “hairy  Aino,” 
which  is  given  up  to  snow  and  ice  for  some  months 
in  the  year,  is  essentially  the  least  civilized  of  the 
big  islands  of  Japan,  and  is  full  of  mountains,  but  is 
better  educated  than  the  neighboring  province  of 
Rikuoku,  on  the  main  island. 

Then  my  thoughts  reverted  to  the  province  of  Kii, 
where  it  had  been  my  lot  to  travel  for  some  time,  % 
with  a view  of  advising  certain  owners  of  forests  as 

68 


PRESENT  DAY  EDUCATION 


to  whether  it  would  be  possible  to  overcome  geo- 
graphical difficulties  sufficiently  to  enable  them  to 
get  their  timber  to  the  sea;  where  my  Japanese 
friend  from  Nagoya  had  about  as  much  difficulty  in 
making  himself  understood  by  the  natives  as  I had ; 
and  where  even  the  Japanese  food  was  so  bad  that 
he  had  a difficulty  in  eating  it;  and  I made  up  my 
mind  that,  at  all  events  as  far  as  education  was  con- 
cerned, that  district  could  be  left  white,  or  nearly  so, 
on  the  map.  Again  I was  mistaken,  for  the  Govern- 
ment returns  show  most  of  this  portion  of  the  coun- 
try to  be  a first-class  educational  centre. 

In  the  face  of  all  these  conflicting  facts,  which  go 
to  shake  one’s  ordinary  theories — for  even  that  pro- 
verbial civilizer,  the  railway,  seems  to  have  had  no 
direct  influence  on  the  proportionate  scale  of  Japan- 
ese elementary  education — it  is  difficult  to  find  a 
satisfactory  reason  for  the  peculiar  conditions. 

I can  only  come  to  the  conclusion  that,  as  far  as 
the  masses  are  concerned,  education  makes  more 
effectual  progress  in  some  of  the  quiet  and  out- 
lying districts  which  are  practically  undisturbed  by 
the  foreigner,  or  by  modern  methods ; where  the 
old  native  industries  flourish  steadily  and  uninter- 
ruptedly; where  the  Japan  of  to-day  is  still  to  a cer- 
tain extent  the  Japan  of  the  past;  and  where  the 
only  modernizing  influence  which  is  now  making 
itself  felt  is  occasioned  by  the  Government  regula- 
tions, which  insist  on  a good  elementary  education 
of  a nature  hitherto  unknown. 

The  problem  which  presents  itself,  if  the  above 

69 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 


assumption  be  correct,  is  an  exceedingly  interesting 
one ; for  it  would  seem  to  imply  that  side  by  side 
with  the  progressive,  ambitious  Japan  which  we 
know  (a  Japan  which  is  led  still  by  a comparatively 
small  body  of  highly  educated  men,  who  have  a 
thorough  knowledge  of  the  outer  world),  there  is 
another  and  equally  useful  community  springing 
into  existence,  which  in  ten  or  twenty  years  from 
now  will  make  itself  felt  in  Japanese  politics.  I 
refer  to  the  communities  shaded  black  and  double 
cross-barred  on  my  map,  which  are  made  up  as  a 
rule,  not  of  men  taught  by  the  foreigner,  but  of 
those  who  are  being  educated  quietly  and  systemati- 
cally, in  the  Government  and  other  schools,  by  their 
fellow-countrymen,  who  in  years  gone  by  have  im- 
bibed their  instruction  from  the  foreigner. 

The  masses  who  go  to  make  up  such  communities 
will  in  a few  years  be  able,  not  only  to  look  on  mat- 
ters from  a broader  point  of  view  than  can  the 
common  people  of  to-day,  but  will  understand  their 
political  value  under  existing  laws.  They  should, 
in  fact,  eventually  form  that  backbone  to  the  policy 
of  Japan,  the  voting  power,  which  will  solve  the 
future  destinies  of  their  country  in  its  permanent 
modern  policy — a power  for  good  or  evil,  as  the 
case  may  be,  but  which  is  lacking  to-day. 

Captain  Brinkley,  who  is  perhaps  our  greatest 
authority  on  Japanese  modern  policy,  and  certainly 
the  greatest  writer  on  the  subject,  has  maintained 
that  the  politics  of  Japan  are  those  of  the  individual 
and  not  of  the  party.  It  is  to  the  millions  of  boys 

70 


THE  ENGINEERING  COLLEGE  OF  THE  IMPERIAL  UNIVERSITY  OF  TOKIO 

Photographed  by  Professor  C.  D.  West 


THE  LAW  COLLEGE  AND  LIBRARY  OF  THE  IMPERIAL  UNIVERSITY  OF  TOKIO 

Photographed  by  Professor  C.  D.  West 


PRESENT  DAY  EDUCATION 


who  to-day  are  partially  educated  that  one  must 
look  in  the  future,  when  their  education  has  been 
completed,  to  furnish  the  material  following  of  the 
various  political  leaders. 

Of  course  the  educational  map  above  referred  to 
is  only  serviceable  as  showing  the  general  trend  of 
elementary  and  not  of  the  higher  education,  and 
it  would  seem  to  show  that  the  big  towns,  where 
modern  culture  is  struggling  to  the  front  and  high- 
class  education  is  studied,  and  in  the  large  and  go- 
ahead  industrial  centres,  the  masses  are  not  as  well 
looked  after  as  elsewhere. 

No  doubt  this  is  very  largely  due  to  the  fact  that 
in  such  places  there  is  a very  large  demand  for 
juvenile  labor,  and  consequently  the  school  attend- 
ance among  the  poorer  classes  is  less  regular. 

Roughly  speaking,  and  in  very  round  numbers, 
we  may  estimate  that  there  are  in  Japan  at  the  pres- 
ent day  30,000  schools  of  all  sorts,  100,000  teachers, 
500,000  graduates,  5,000,000  pupils  of  both  sexes; 
and  that  the  annual  outlay,  in  one  way  and  another, 
to  maintain  them  has  reached  about  ^1,500,000 
sterling. 

We  may  also  say  that  at  least  two-thirds  of  that 
portion  of  the  total  population  who  are  of  school 
age  are  receiving  tuition  of  a sort  which  in  quality 
will  compare  favorably,  as  far  as  their  requirements 
are  concerned,  with  that  meted  out  to  the  people  of 
any  country  in  the  world. 

The  official  description  of  the  Japanese  element- 
ary tuition  is  as  follows : 

71 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 


“ Elementary  schools  are  designed  to  give  children  the  rudiments 
of  moral  education  and  of  education  specially  adapted  to  make  of 
them  good  members  of  the  community,  together  with  such  general 
knowledge  and  skill  as  are  necessary  for  practical  life — due  atten- 
tion being  paid  to  their  bodily  development.  The  elementary 
schools  are  divided  into  ordinary  elementary  schools  and  higher 
elementary  schools.  Those  established  and  maintained  at  the  ex- 
pense of  cities,  towns,  or  villages,  or  of  town  and  village  school 
unions,  or  of  districts  within  them,  are  called  city,  town,  or  village 
elementary  schools,  and  those  established  and  maintained  at  the 
expense  of  one  or  more  private  individuals  are  called  private  ele- 
mentary school  An  ordinary  elementary  school  course  and  a 
higher  elementary  school  course  may  be  established  conjointly  in 
one  and  the  same  school.  In  a higher  elementary  school,  one  or 
more  special  courses  in  agriculture,  commerce,  or  industry  may  be 
established,  and  a supplementary  course  may  also  be  established  in 
ordinary  or  higher  elementary  schools.  The  ordinary  elementary 
school  course  extends  over  three  or  four  years,  and  the  higher  ele- 
mentary school  course  over  two,  three,  or  four  years.  The  supple- 
mentary course  extends  over  not  more  than  three  years,  while  in 
regard  to  the  special  course  the  length  of  study  is  not  yet  fixed* 
Elementary  schools  are  also  to  be  established  in  connection  with 
normal  schools.” 

Turning  to  the  question  of  the  higher  education, 
we  find  that  the  list  of  schools  and  colleges,  in  1896, 
ran  as  follows : 


University 1 

Higher  Schools 6 

Higher  Female  Schools 14 

Normal  Schools 63 

Miscellaneous  Schools 1352 


Since  then  a second  university  has  been  estab- 
lished in  Kioto  on  the  lines  of  the  Tokio  University. 

The  above  institutions,  for  educating  professional 
men  and  ladies  of  corresponding  social  rank,  had 
between  them  nearly  90,000  students,  4940  native 
and  250.  foreign  professors.  Since  that  date  the 

72 


PRESENT  DAY  EDUCATION 


number  both  of  schools  and  of  students  has  greatly 
increased. 

Although  the  higher  branches  of  modern  technical 
training  had  been  experimented  with  in  Japan  at  a 
somewhat  earlier  period,  it  was  not  until  1873,  when 
Mr.  Henry  Dyer  was  engaged  by  the  Japanese  Gov- 
ernment, that  a solid  system  of  technical  education 
was  inaugurated. 

Viscount  Yozo  Yamao  was  the  Minister  of  Edu- 
cation at  the  time,  and  facilitated  as  far  as  possible 
Mr.  Dyer’s  onerous  task  of  forming  the  Kobu 
Daigaku , from  which  sprang  the  present  Imperial 
University.  The  work  accomplished  by  Mr.  Dyer 
and  his  able  staff  of  foreign  professors  will  ever 
remain  less  noticed  by  the  world  in  general  than  it 
ought  to  be,  for  the  reason  that  it  was  all  carried 
out  so  quietly ; and,  although  within  twenty  miles 
of  a treaty-port,  and  in  the  capital  of  the  country, 
it  was  out  of  the  regular  track  of  the  tourist  and  the 
treaty-port  resident.  The  professors,  too,  who  did 
the  work  were  leading  a more  or  less  retired  life, 
as  far  as  the  rest  of  the  European  world  in  Japan 
was  concerned. 

It  is  not  for  me  to  talk  of  the  respective  merits 
of  these  men,  or  to  endeavor  to  point  out  the 
amount  of  influence  which  their  individual  labors 
have  had  on  the  modern  Japanese  character. 
Among  those  who  have  left  the  country  we  have 
such  well-known  names  in  the  professional  world 
as  Airy,  Griffis,  Anderson,  Aston,  Dyer,  and  Milne ; 
while  those  still  remaining,  not  all  now  professors, 

73 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 


but  still  living  in  Japan,  have  among  them  Captain 
Brinkley,  Drs.  Divers  and  Baelz,  and  Professors 
West,  Burton,  and  Conder. 

Mr.  Dyer  was  head  professor  of  the  Kobu  Daigaku 
until  1882,  when  he  left  Japan,  and  Dr.  Divers  took 
his  place  until  1886,  when  a Japanese,  Mr.  Hiromoto 
Watanabe,  was  appointed  first  president  of  the 
amalgamated  technical  schools,  which  had  by  this 
time  developed  into  what  is  now  known  as  the  Im- 
perial Tokio  University. 

The  site  of  the  University  is  a beautiful  one, 
on  high  ground,  and  in  a remote  part  of  Tokio 
known  as  the  Hongo  quarter.  It  spreads  over 
many  acres  of  ground,  and  its  buildings  are  as  a 
rule  large,  practical,  and  in  good  taste. 

At  the  present  day  there  are  about  2000  students 
of  all  sorts,  and  to  give  an  idea  as  to  the  scope  of 
their  studies,  I quote  the  official  description  issued 
by  the  Department  of  Education  : 

“ The  Imperial  University  has  for  its  object  the  teaching  of  such 
arts  and  sciences  as  are  required  for  the  purpose  of  the  State,  and  for 
the  prosecution  of  original  investigations  in  such  arts  and  sciences. 
It  consists  of.  the  University  Hall  and  the  Colleges  of  Law,  Medicine, 
Engineering,  Literature,  Science,  and  Agriculture.  The  College  of 
Law  includes  the  two  courses  of  Law  and  Politics.  The  College  of 
Medicine  includes  the  two  courses  of  Medicine  and  Pharmacy.  In 
connection  with  this  College  there  is  established  a course  of  lectures 
on  State  Medicine.  The  College  of  Engineering  includes  the  nine 
courses  of  Civil  Engineering,  Mechanical  Engineering,  Naval  Archi- 
tecture, Technology  of  Arms,  Electrical  Engineering,  Architecture, 
Applied  Chemistry,  Technology  of  Explosives,  and  Mining  and  Met- 
allurgy. The  College  of  Literature  includes  the  nine  courses  of 
Philosophy,  Japanese  Literature,  Chinese  Literature,  Japanese  His- 
tory, History,  Philology,  English  Literature,  German  Literature,  and 
French  Literature.  The  College  of  Science  includes  the  seven 

74 


THE  SCIENCE  COLLEGE  OF  THE  IMPERIAL  UNIVERSITY  OF  TOKIO 

Photographed  by  Professor  C.  D.  West 


IN  THE  QUADRANGLE  OF  THE  ENGINEERING  COLLEGE  OF  THE  IMPERIAL  UNIVERSITY 

OF  TOKIO 


Photographed  by  Professor  C.  D.  West 


PRESENT  DAY  EDUCATION 


courses  of  Mathematics,  Astronomy,  Physics,  Chemistry,  Zoology, 
Botany,  and  Geology.  The  College  of  Agriculture  includes  the  four 
courses  of  Agriculture,  Agricultural  Chemistry,  Forestry,  and  Vet- 
erinary Science.  For  the  training  of  farmers,  junior  courses  of 
agriculture,  forestry,  and  veterinary  science  were  also  established  in 
connection  with  this  College.  For  the  purpose  of  facilitating  the 
practical  investigations  of  students  and  pupils,  there  are  two  hos- 
pitals, the  first  and  second,  established  in  connection  with  the  Col- 
lege of  Medicine.  The  Tokio  Astronomical  Observatory,  the  Seis- 
mological  Observatory,  the  Marine  Laboratory,  and  the  Botanical 
Gardens  are  connected  with  the  College  of  Science,  and  the  Experi- 
mental Farms,  the  Veterinary  Hospital,  the  Laboratories  for  Forest 
Technology,  and  Horseshoeing,  together  with  buildings  intended 
for  sericulture,  are  provided  in  the  College  of  Agriculture,  also  for 
the  same  purpose.  There  are  also  several  other  laboratories  con- 
nected with  the  Colleges  of  Medicine,  Engineering,  Science,  and 
Agriculture.  There  is  also  the  University  Library  open  to  the  in- 
structors and  students  in  general.  As  regards  the  length  of  the 
courses  of  study,  it  should  be  here  mentioned  that  the  course  of 
Medicine  extends  over  four  years,  while  in  the  College  of  Law  no  def- 
inite term  of  study  is  fixed,  but  three  examination  periods  are  special- 
ly prescribed  for  each  course.  But  in  all  , other  Colleges,  including 
the  course  of  Pharmacy,  the  course  of  study  is  made  to  extend  over 
three  years  for  each  subject  of  study.  The  period  for  scientific  in- 
vestigations to  be  carried  on  by  students  in  the  University  Hall  is 
fixed  at  five  years,  of  which  the  first  two  years  must  be  devoted  to 
study  in  the  Colleges  to  which  they  respectively  belong,  as  post- 
graduates.” 


The  educational  gulf  which  stretches  between  the 
University  and  the  Elementary  Schools  is  bridged 
by  a number  of  educational  establishments  graded 
downward  as  follows  : Higher  Schools  and  Higher 
Middle  Schools,  which  are  preparatory  schools  for 
the  University;  Ordinary  Middle  Schools;  Normal 
Schools,  for  the  training  of  teachers  ; Supplementary 
Technical  Schools ; Apprentices’  Schools;  and  Deaf 
and  Dumb  Schools.  There  are  also  many  Kinder- 
gartens, and  a variety  of  special  schools. 

Of  female  education  in  Japan  it  is  not  the  proper 

75 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 


time  just  now  to  write,  for  we  may  expect  very  great 
developments  of  this  in  the  immediate  future.  Con- 
sequently any  details  one  might  give  at  the  present 
time  would  be  out  of  date  very  shortly. 

As  matters  now  stand  lady  students  are  not  at- 
tached to  the  University,  nor  do  they  follow  a cor- 
responding course  of  study  in  any  other  institution. 
There  are,  however,  several  “ Higher  and  Middle  Fe- 
male Schools,”  and  one  school  for  the  daughters  of 
noblemen.  A great  agitation  is  on  foot  with  a view 
of  extending  the  facilities  for  a higher  education  of 
ladies ; and  practical  effect  is  being  given  to  the 
growing  conviction  that  as  long  as  Japan  only  edu- 
cates her  men  on  modern  lines,  her  progress  will 
only  be  of  a one-sided  nature. 

There  still  exists,  however,  a pious  horror  in  the 
blinds  of  a large  section  of  the  Japanese  of  the  style 
and  methods  of  the  foreign  woman,  who  is  looked 
on  as  ungainly,  unladylike,  and  immodest ; and  whose 
independent  and  imperious  manners  are  as  much 
misconstrued  by  the  Japanese  as — well,  as  the  ways 
of  the  Japanese  women  are,  as  a rule,  misconstrued 
by  us. 

In  the  elementary  school  girls  and  boys  undergo 
an  identical  course  of  instruction,  with  the  result 
that  among  the  poorer  classes,  girl  for  boy,  the  one 
has  as  good  an  education  as  the  other;  whereas,  in 
the  measure  as  one  ascends  the  social  scale,  one 
finds  the  educational  disparity  widening  between 
the  sexes,  an  anomaly  which,  if  I am  not  much  mis- 
taken, will  soon  be  remedied  now  that  the  Japanese 

76 


PRESENT  DAY  EDUCATION 


are  beginning  to  understand  the  problems  of  modern 
life.  Undoubtedly  the  greatest  personality  con- 
nected with  modern  middle-class  education  in  Japan 
is  Mr.  Fukusawa  Yakichi,  who  founded  the  Keio- 
gijiku,  the  most  important  private  college  in  Japan. 

Of  him  we  read  in  Things  Japanese : 


“Mr.  Fukusawa  is  a power  in  the  land.  Writing  with  admirable 
clearness,  publishing  a popular  newspaper,  not  keeping  too  far 
ahead  of  the  times,  in  favor  of  Christianity  yesterday,  because  its 
adoption  might  gain  for  Japan  the  good  will  of  Western  nations,  all 
eagerness  for  Buddhism  to-day  because  Buddhist  doctrine  can  be 
better  reconciled  with  those  of  evolution  and  development,  pro-  and 
anti -foreign  by  turns,  inquisitive,  clever,  not  over  - ballasted  with 
judicial  calmness,  the  eminent  private  school-master,  who  might  be 
Minister  of  Education,  but  who  has  consistently  refused  all  office,  is 
the  intellectual  father  of  half  the  men  who  now  direct  the  affairs  of 
the  country.” 

Upwards  of  forty  years  ago  Mr.  Fukusawa  went 
to  America,  and  on  his  return  set  himself  to  train 
his  fellow-countrymen.  This  was  before  the  aboli- 
tion of  feudalism,  and  his  efforts  met  with  but  scant 
appreciation  in  high  quarters,  even  after  the  Restora- 
tion, all  through  which  troublous  times  he  kept  his 
college  going. 

A Japanese  writer  throws  an  interesting  side-light 
on  Mr.  Fukusawa’s  character  and  methods  by  point- 
ing out  that  “ During  the  period  when  people  were 
discussing  the  opening  of  the  country,  he  was  al- 
ready teaching  Adam  Smith’s  Wealth  of  Nations . 
In  an  age  when  feudalism  was  not  yet  wholly  abol- 
ished, his  students  were  already  reading  John  Stuart 
Mill’s  Representative  Government .” 

And  the  same  author  points  out  that  Mr.  Fuku- 

77 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 

sawa  and  his  students  had  the  unique  experience  of 
studying  the  history  of  the  ancient  civil  wars  and 
upheavals  in  other  countries,  and  of  simultaneously 
seeing  history  repeating  itself  before  their  eyes  in 
Japan. 

For  years  after  the  Restoration  the  better  - class 
Japanese  looked  down  on  Mr.  Fukusawa’s  school 
and  on  the  students  who  went  there.  It  was  bad 
enough  for  gentlemen,  who  should  have  been  sol- 
diers, to  become  doctors  and  lawyers  and  engineers. 
However,  such  men,  at  all  events,  went  to  the  Uni- 
versity, and  did  the  thing  properly.  But  it  never 
entered  people’s  heads  at  that  time  that  a Japanese 
man  of  good  family  could  descend  to  banking  and 
other  commercial  business. 

However,  Mr.  Fukusawa,  with  his  wonderful  en- 
ergy and  tact,  and  his  American  notions  as  to  what 
a man  should  do  and  how  he  should  do  it,  fought 
all  these  prejudices  down,  until  to-day  he  stands  out 
above  all  others  as  the  greatest  educational  pioneer 
that  his  country  has  ever  seen. 

Among  the  private  educational  institutions  which 
have  played  a formidable  part  in  instructing  the 
middle-class  element  is  the  Christian  College  at 
Kioto.  This  was  founded  by  Dr.  Neeshima,  a Jap- 
anese convert  to  Christianity,  in  connection  with  a 
group  of  American  missionaries. 

Though  a highly  successful  educational  establish- 
ment, it  has  deviated  from  its  methods,  in  the  nature 
of  its  instruction  and  the  primary  objects  of  its 
founders;  for  on  the  death  of  Dr.  Neeshima,  the 

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PRESENT  DAY  EDUCATION 


Japanese  and  Americans  who  jointly  managed  the 
institution  came  to  loggerheads ; and  the  former, 
taking  advantage  of  the  fact  that  the  college  was 
built  outside  treaty  limits,  turned  their  American 
colleagues  out  of  the  place,  and  thenceforth  ran  the 
institution  on  their  own  lines;  still,  however,  retain- 
ing a nominal  Christian  tendency.  This  has  afforded 
a painful  example  of  Japanese  duplicity,  from  which 
the  hostile  critics  of  that  country  have  very  natu- 
rally not  failed  to  deduce  many  forcible  arguments 
against  the  methods  of  the  people. 

Having  now  briefly  outlined  the  quantity  and 
quality  of  Japanese  education,  it  is  as  well  to  deal 
with  the  capacity  of  the  Japanese  as  absorbers  of 
instruction. 

In  this  matter  I would  say  at  once  that  I know  of 
no  people  in  the  world  who  can  touch  them  for 
powers  of  academic  application.  Whether  their  ap- 
titude comes  up  to  their  powers  of  application  is  a 
matter  on  which  opinions  differ  very  largely,  my  per- 
sonal conviction  being  that  it  does. 

I have  often  enough  visited  the  Japanese  at  their 
studies  of  all  sorts;  in  the  lecture  halls  of  the  Im- 
perial University,  and  in  the  humble  village  class- 
room ; at  the  rehearsals  of  their  complicated  his- 
torical dramas,  and  at  the  classes  for  trained  nurses 
in  the  hospitals ; and  if  application  to  study  may  be 
taken  to  carry  with  it  a proportionate  aptitude  for 
learning,  then  the  Japanese  may  certainly  be  said  to 
be  capable  of  giving  many  points  to  European  and 
American  students. 


79 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 


If  those  people  who,  in  an  airy  manner,  describe 
the  Japanese  as  being  a light  and  frivolous  people, 
were  to  devote  a month,  or  even  a week,  to  looking 
into  their  methods  of  education,  they  would  rapidly 
change  their  opinion:  an  opinion  formed  on  what? 
Is  it  on  the  sights  they  have  seen  in  a treaty-port 
tea-house,  or  on  something  they  have  read,  and 
which  has  been  written  by  somebody  who  went  to 
a treaty-port  tea-house  ? Have  such  visitors  realized 
that  even  in  the  tea-house  in  question  those  very 
child-like  “giggling  little  girls,”  as  they  call  them, 
the  meikos  who  dance,  and  the  geishas  who  sing  and 
play  the  samisen,  have  gone  through  a training  so 
lengthy  and  severe  as  to  make  the  ordinary  course 
undertaken  by  our  embryo  artistes  at  a musical 
Conservatoire  mere  child’s  play  ? 

If  any  single  proof  is  required  of  the  hunger  that 
possesses  the  Japanese  for  acquiring  knowledge,  it 
is  to  be  readily  found  in  the  fact  that,  even  when 
the  law  of  the  land  prescribed  that  the  possession  of 
a foreign  book  was  punishable  by  death,  there  were 
Japanese  to  be  found  not  only  ready  to  risk  death 
in  procuring  such  books,  but  who  backed  up  their 
eagerness  in  a practical  manner  by  paying  enormous 
sums  of  money  for  them  to  the  philanthropic  Dutch 
settlers  who  were  permitted  to  reside  in  Nagasaki 
on  sufferance. 

A Japanese  friend  of  mine,  who  is  now  a well- 
known  man  in  the  international  business  world, 
began  his  studies  of  the  English  language  by  writ- 
ing out  in  its  entirety  Johnson’s  Dictionary,  a copy 

80 


PRESENT  DAY  EDUCATION 


of  which  had  been  lent  to  him  by  a friend.  This 
colossal  undertaking  he  carried  out  successfully, 
and  when  I explain  that  he  painted  it  all  out  in 
Indian  ink  by  means  of  the  Japanese  pen,  a sort  of 
bamboo  brush,  on  what  we  should  call  tissue  paper, 
and  when  it  is  borne  in  mind  that  at  the  commence- 
ment of  his  task  he  was  merely  copying  the  out- 
lines of  our  lettering,  the  form  of  which  conveyed  no 
meaning  to  him,  the  terrible  nature  of  the  difficul- 
ties he  had  to  contend  with,  and  the  tedious  nature 
of  his  work,  can  be  appreciated. 

The  late  Count  Mutsu,  who  died  in  1897,  and 
who  had  led  a life  of  the  strangest  vicissitudes, 
is  stated  to  have  started  his  early  studies  of  the 
English  language  by  taking  a berth  as  cabin-boy 
on  a British  schooner  trading  between  Japan  and 
China. 

Chamberlain  tells  us  how,  among  other  advent- 
urous youths,  those  two  well-known  statesmen,  the 
Marquis  Ito  and  Count  Inouye,  years  ago  smuggled 
themselves  on  “homeward  (presumably  outward  from 
Japan)  bound  ” ships,  as  affording  the  only  means  of 
gaining  a practical  insight  into  the  affairs  of  the 
outer  world,  and  of  learning  the  English  language. 

These  are  only  a few  examples  out  of  very  many 
that  the  student  of  the  educational  methods  of  the 
Japanese  must  come  across  continually,  and  which 
serve  to  bring  home  most  forcibly  to  his  mind  the 
fact  that,  whatever  faults  there  may  be  in  the  char- 
acter of  the  Japanese,  want  of  application  to  and 
enthusiasm  for  study,  even  when  such  study  is  of  a 

81 


F 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 


most  tedious  and  heart-breaking  character,  are  cer- 
tainly not  among  them. 

How  far  this  power  of  concentration  is  an  acquired 
virtue,  and  how  far  a natural  instinct,  is  doubtless  a 
matter  of  opinion;  but  I think  that  the  training 
of  countless  generations  of  Japanese  to  methodi- 
cally and  accurately  base  their  smallest  actions  on 
an  observance  of  strictly  prescribed  etiquette  has 
developed  in  them  as  a race  a facility  for  absorb- 
ing study  the  equivalent  of  which  has  only  been 
attained  by  certain  individuals  among  the  Western 
peoples. 

Even  among  that  section  of  the  resident  foreign- 
ers who  do  not  admit  that  there  is  any  very  great 
amount  of  good  in  the  Japanese  character,  many 
will  allow  that  they  possess  this  great  capacity  for 
absorbing  knowledge ; but  the  general  impression 
of  such  people  is  that,  when  knowledge  has  been 
absorbed  satisfactorily,  they  have  not  a correspond- 
ing capacity  for  applying  it  to  the  practical  uses  of 
life. 

In  justice  to  the  Japanese  it  must  be  admitted 
that  we,  the  Western  foreigners,  have  not  as  yet 
had  a full  opportunity  of  judging  this  question.  We 
notice,  of  course,  their  mistakes  in  modern  policy 
and  in  administration ; and  it  often  strikes  us  that 
such  errors  might  have  been  easily  avoided  had  a 
European  been  at  the  head  of  affairs.  If,  however, 
the  proof  of  their  practical  capacity  is  to  be  found 
in  the  grand  results  of  their  modern  policy,  we 
have  to  admit  that,  whatever  the  sum  total  of  their 

82 


Photographed  by  Professor  C.  D.  West 


PRESENT  DAY  EDUCATION 


blunders  may  amount  to,  they  have  been  swamped 
over  and  over  again  by  the  general  progress  which 
has  taken  place. 

Speaking  personally,  I have  been  in  contact  with 
statesmen,  politicians,  diplomatists,  barristers,  law- 
yers, doctors,  journalists,  engineers,  and  architects, 
who,  looked  at  from  the  Western  point  of  view, 
would  be  considered  thoroughly  competent  in  every 
way. 

Possibly  and  probably  there  are  not  enough  of 
them  in  all  for  the  qualities  of  the  best  among  them 
to  be  utilized  to  the  fullest  advantage,  and  in  judging 
them  we  must  remember  that  the  thoroughly  com- 
petent lawyer  has  to  create  his  modern  office  staff, 
and  educate  the  members  of  it  to  meet  his  stand- 
ard ; worse  still,  the  modern  Japanese  manufact- 
urer, instead  of  being  able  to  draw  his  operatives 
from  a large  class  of  artisans  already  born  and 
bred  in  the  atmosphere  of  their  trade,  must,  after 
buying  his  machinery  and  equipping  his  factory  in 
the  most  up-to-date  manner,  begin  the  terrible  task 
of  personally  educating  the  whole  of  his  labor; 
and,  worst  of  all,  the  first-rate  modern  politician  has 
to  educate  the  whole  of  his  constituents  in  the 
theories  of  modern  politics. 

With  regard  to  this  last  question,  we  have  ample 
proof  of  the  thoroughness  of  the  Japanese  character, 
when  we  consider  that  that  remarkable  statesman, 
Count  Okuma,  even  took  the  trouble  some  years 
ago  to  found  a school — possessing,  I believe,  over 
one  thousand  pupils  at  the  present  day — in  which 

83 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 


his  particular  form  of  political  views  are  drummed 
into  the  heads  of  the  boys  simultaneously  with  the 
general  educational  subjects. 

Under  such  circumstances  the  difficulties  of  those 
Japanese  who  are  thoroughly  educated  in  their  vari- 
ous professions,  in  dealing  with  so  many  who  are 
not,  can  be  appreciated,  for  they  are  in  reality  living 
ten  or  fifteen  years  before  their  time. 

These,  in  fact,  are  the  halcyon  days  of  the  young 
professional  man  leaving  college,  for  in  nine  cases 
out  of  ten  he  steps  straight  from  school  into  an  im- 
portant situation  such  as  we  should  not  think  of  in- 
trusting to  his  British  equivalent  until  he  had  had 
ten  or  twenty  years  of  hard  grinding  at  his  practice. 

Thus  it  is  that  we  find  the  Japanese  making  so 
many  palpable  mistakes  in  all  sorts  of  ways  in  their 
conduct  of  modern  politics,  professions,  and  business 
— mistakes  which  afford  an  easy  target  for  the  critic, 
but  which  are  due  to  a want  of  experience  and  not 
to  a lack  of  intelligence;  mistakes  which  are  inevi- 
table under  the  circumstances,  and  the  real  cause  for 
wonder  with  regard  to  which  lies  in  the  fact  that  a 
great  many  more  are  not  made. 

One  cannot  leave  the  question  of  education  with- 
out touching  on  that  feature  of  it  on  which  English- 
men rightly  lay  so  much  stress — that  of  the  body  as 
opposed  to  that  of  the  mind.  Though  taken  up 
somewhat  late  in  the  day  in  Japan,  modern  athletics 
and  games  are  being  propagated  with  energy  and 
success.  The  boys  and  girls,  even  the  youngest  of 
those  in  the  elementary  schools,  are  carefully  and 

84 


PRESENT  DAY  EDUCATION 


systematically  drilled,  and  encouraged  to  take  part 
in  games.  Of  these  the  most  popular  is  base-ball, 
imported  from  the  United  States,  and  in  playing  it 
the  Japanese  children  are  both  keen  and  capable. 

So  thorough  are  the  Japanese  in  the  way  they 
tackle  everything  that,  when  small  boys  are  playing, 
an  instructor,  thoroughly  versed  in  the  intricacies  of 
the  game,  presides  over  it,  fulfilling  the  functions  of 
captain,  umpire,  referee,  and  general  factotum,  issu- 
ing his  orders  and  counting  the  balls,  and  very  often 
employing  the  English  language  in  so  doing. 

The  University  students  are  so  strong  at  base- 
ball that  they  usually  beat  the  foreign  teams  in  their 
matches  in  the  treaty-ports. 

Lawn -tennis,  bicycling,  and  rowing  are  also  very 
popular;  and,  as  a sign  that  the  official  seal  of  im- 
perial approval  has  been  extended  to  the  policy  of 
athletics,  it  is  well  to  mention  that  in  a regatta  in 
Tokio  no  less  than  four  of  the  Japanese  princes 
coxed  opposing  crews  in  one  of  their  important  races 
a year  or  two  ago.  I think  that  constitutes  an  in- 
ternational record  as  to  royal  patronage,  in  a practi- 
cal form,  at  a boat-race.  In  taking  to  out-door  pas- 
times, the  youthful  Japanese  of  to-day  are,  in  their 
keenness,  style,  and  appreciation  of  them,  much 
nearer  to  English  and  American  boys  than  are 
French,  German,  or  those  of  any  other  race  I know. 

35 


CHAPTER  V 


THE  NEW  SCHOOL  OF  DRAMA 

To  the  student  of  character  the  theatre  is  per- 
haps a more  reliable  indicator  of  the  real  aspira- 
tions and  methods  of  a people  than  almost  any  other 
institution.  The  drama,  we  are  told,  “holds  the 
mirror  up  to  nature  ” ; and  whether  a very  polished 
mirror,  or  a somewhat  tarnished  and  distorted  one, 
it  nearly  always  offers  a recognizable  reflection.  In 
Japan,  where  an  insight  into  the  real  character  of 
the  people  is  hedged  round  with  so  many  complica- 
tions and  difficulties,  the  drama  is  essentially  useful 
as  offering  the  foreigner  a means  of  either  confirm- 
ing or  dissipating  his  impressions  on  a given  subject. 

The  old  Japanese  classical  drama  is  so  serious  a 
business  that  one  can  understand  that  many  foreign 
writers  maintain  these  plays  to  be  slow  and  uninter- 
esting to  watch  for  more  than  a short  time,  though 
personally  I have  never  found  them  so.  It  is  not 
my  wish  to  hark  back  to  the  classical  drama,  which 
subject  has  been  thoroughly  well  treated  by  a variety 
of  writers,  beyond  touching  on  it  sufficiently  for  the 
purpose  of  comparing  it  with  the  more  modern 
plays  which  are  springing  into  popularity  at  the 
present  day. 


86 


THE  NEW  SCHOOL  OF  DRAMA 


The  Japanese  have  from  time  almost  immemorial 
taken  their  theatre  very  seriously ; so  seriously,  in 
fact,  that  any  departure  from  the  well-established 
routine  and  etiquette  was  not  only  looked  upon  with 
disapproval,  but  was  considered  to  constitute  almost 
a species  of  sacrilege.  In  Japan,  where  the  essence 
of  religious  practice  consists  in  the  worship  of  one’s 
ancestors,  and  the  dramatic  performances  of  the  old 
school  have  been  confined  to  the  representations  of 
episodes,  real  and  imaginary,  of  mediaeval  and  mythi- 
cal history,  it  is  only  natural  that  the  theatre  should 
have  retained  a certain  semi-official  connection  with 
the  religion  of  the  country.  Chamberlain  tells  us 
that  the  theatre  in  Japan,  as,  in  fact,  elsewhere,  owes 
its  origin  to  religion ; that  “ it  can  be  traced  back  to 
religious  dances  of  immemorial  antiquity,  accompa- 
nied by  rude  choric  songs.” 

However,  with  regard  to  the  classical  drama  of 
Japan,  the  ordinary  educated  Japanese  of  to-day, 
though  conversant  with  the  time-honored  and  fan- 
tastic mythology  on  which  these  plays  are  based, 
has  difficulty  in  fathoming  the  stilted  phraseology 
of  his  theatre,  which  is  quite  unlike  any  colloquial 
Japanese.  Consequently,  in  spite  of  the  general 
veneration  in  which  the  classical  theatre  is  still 
held,  the  need  of  some  more  popular,  if  lower  class, 
entertainment  was  .felt,  and  this  eventually  intro- 
duced itself  in  the  form  of  plays  having  to  do  with 
contemporary  every-day  life.  Such  performances 
have  been  well  attended,  though  professedly  looked 
down  upon  as  vulgar  by  many  of  the  people  who 

87 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 


patronized  them,  and  though  the  actors  were  spoken 
of  with  contempt.  But  these  social  plays,  though 
they  undoubtedly  formed  the  first  step  towards  the 
modernizing  of  the  Japanese  drama,  were  essen- 
tially Japanese  in  their  theory  and  practice,  and  no 
attempt  was  made  to  represent  foreign  life,  beyond 
introducing  occasional  scenes  in  China  and  Corea. 

The  great  exponent  of  the  old  school  of  drama 
is,  of  course,  Ichikawa  Danjuro,  who,  though  very 
nearly  sixty  years  of  age,  is  still  able  to  go  through 
daily  performances  of  eight  hours’  duration  without 
apparent  fatigue,  and  to  impersonate  indiscrimi- 
nately men  or  women  of  any  age  and  character. 

To  me  the  personality  of  Danjuro  was  intensely 
interesting ; and  on  the  many  occasions  on  which  I 
had  opportunities  of  conversing  with  him,  in  his 
dressing-room,  between  the  acts  of  all-day-long  rep- 
resentations; at  his  rehearsals  to  which  he  invited 
me;  and  at  his  private  residence  in  Tsukji,  he  was 
always  extremely  willing  to  give  his  point  of  view 
with  regard  to  the  old  and  the  new  Japan. 

Danjuro’s  manner  is  dignified  and  courteous  to  a 
degree,  which  has  doubtless  become  accentuated  by 
his  lifelong  impersonations  of  the  Daimios  and  old- 
time  heroes.  I have  often  thought  it  strange  that  he, 
the  actor,  the  man  whose  life  must  essentially  be  arti- 
ficial, should  have  been  the  one  Japanese,  of  the  many 
in  all  stations  of  life  with  whom  I have  come  in  con- 
tact, who  should  the  most  emphatically  impress  upon 
me  a conviction — which  I feel  sure  is  shared  by 
every  Japanese  who  breathes,  although  appearances 

88 


ICHIKAWA  DANJURO 
The  great  exponent  of  the  Classical  Drama 


THE  NEW  SCHOOL  OF  DRAMA 


would  not  seem  to  warrant  such  an  assumption — to 
the  effect  that  while  the  Westernizing  of  his  coun- 
try might  be  a necessary  policy,  it  was  nevertheless 
a necessary  evil. 

Danjuro  may  be  taken  as  the  embodiment  of  the 
classical  drama,  and  very  naturally  he  is  the  bitter 
and  very  powerful  opponent  of  innovations  which 
may  tend  to  popularize  any  other  class  of  entertain- 
ment. But  the  day  for  up-to-date  drama  was  bound 
to  come,  and  the  modernizing  of  Japan  eventually 
brought  it  about. 

The  pioneer  in  this  new  movement  was  an  actor 
named  Kawakami,  and  if  comparisons  can  be  made 
where  surroundings  are  so  different,  Danjuro  may 
be  said  to  represent  the  Henry  Irving  of  Japan, 
while  Kawakami  fulfils  the  combined  functions  of 
the  late  Augustus  Harris  and  Charles  Warner,  with 
a dash  of  Coquelin  aine.  Kawakami  has  visited 
Europe,  though  not  England,  and  he  professes  to 
take  as  his  European  model  rather  the  French  school 
of  acting  than  the  English.  However,  as  he  ex- 
pressed it  to  me,  all  the  world  is  his  prompt-book, 
and  his  aim  is  to  go  in  for  the  realistic  and  modern. 
As  was  to  be  expected,  he  found  great  difficulty  in 
overcoming  time-honored  prejudices  and  opposition; 
but  the  war  with  China,  which  opened  up  so  many 
new  channels  in  Japanese  enterprise,  gave  him  his 
opportunity  and  he  took  it.  He  brought  out  a piece 
entitled  “The  China  War,”  and  dealt  with  episodes 
of  the  field  of  battle,  portraying  the  prowess  of  the 
Japanese  in  a thrilling  and  sensational  manner.  In 

89 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 


this  piece  some  of  the  most  realistic  stage  fights  that 
have  ever  been  portrayed  took  place,  and  through 
the  piece,  in  true  Adelphi  style,  ran  a tale  of  indi- 
vidual heroism  and  suffering. 

The  thing  was  well  done,  the  time  well  chosen, 
and  Kawakami  played  to  crowded  houses.  But,  not 
content  with  his  success,  he  went  over  to  China  in 
his  search  after  the  realistic,  and  personally  visited 
Port  Arthur  and  other  prominent  places  where  the 
fighting  had  been  going  on.  Returning  to  Japan 
he  modified  his  piece  to  suit  the  events,  and  finally 
achieved  a great  and  a lasting  reputation  for  his  par- 
ticular line  of  performance. 

Shortly  after  “The  China  War”  had  been  with- 
drawn, he  brought  out  a far  more  cosmopolitan  and 
ambitious  piece,  and  one  which  at  the  present  time, 
when  Japan  is  opening  up  her  intercourse  with  for- 
eign nations,  exactly  suits  the  temper  of  the  people. 

It  was  described  as  an  adaptation  of  Jules  Verne’s 
Round  the  World  in  Eighty  Days , and,  with  a view 
of  exemplifying  the  manner  in  which  the  Japan- 
ese can  handle  a modern  European  piece,  I give  be- 
low an  outline  of  the  manner  in  which  it  is  worked 
out.  It  will  be  seen  that  Jules  Verne’s  story  is  recog- 
nizable all  through,  though  the  conditions  are  dis- 
torted to  suit  requirements. 

Of  course  the  hero  is  a Japanese,  and  it  is  over  a 
game  at  billiards  in  the  Tokio  Club  that  he  makes 
his  wager  that  he  will  travel  round  the  world  in  the 
stated  time.  The  gentlemen  who  take  up  the  bet 
are  “ made  up  ” in  a manner  which  makes  it  easy 

90 


THE  NEW  SCHOOL  OF  DRAMA 


for  the  audience  to  recognize  them  as  well-known 
contemporary  Tokio  celebrities. 

The  hero  takes  his  departure,  accompanied  by  a 
low  comedy  servant  (Kawakami),  and  closely  fol- 
lowed by  a detective,  who  mistakes  him  for  a man 
who  has  robbed  a bank  and  is  wanted  by  the  police. 
In  the  hurry  of  the  departure  the  detective  has  not 
been  able  to  secure  the  warrant  for  the  arrest  of  the 
travellers. 

At  San  Francisco  the  Japanese  Consul  refuses  to 
grant  a warrant,  on  the  ground  that  “no  Japanese 
gentleman  can  be  a robber.”  (Loud  applause.) 

We  next  have  a scene  depicting  an  American 
railway ‘depot,  which  is  very  like  a Japanese  station, 
but  the  crowd  is  American,  and  the  people  are  rough 
and  rude,  and  show  their  contempt  for  the  Japanese 
travellers.  There  is  an  election  fight  going  on,  and 
the  detective  comes  in  for  some  rough  handling 
until  he  recognizes  among  the  mob  an  old  friend 
of  his,  a Japanese  soshi,  or  professional  bully,  who 
has  come  to  the  United  States,  as  the  pay  for  this 
line  of  business  is  much  better  there  than  in  Japan, 
and  the  work  more  plentiful.  With  this  man  the 
detective  comes  to  terms,  and  it  is  agreed  that  the 
hero  and  his  servant  shall  be  hustled  by  the  election 
gang  and  prevented  from  taking  the  train,  the  object 
of  the  detective  being  to  delay  the  travellers  until  he 
gets  the  warrant  from  Tokio  to  arrest  them.  After 
a good  deal  of  fighting,  however,  they  all  three  catch 
the  train,  and,  presumably,  go  in  it  all  the  way  to 
India,  as  the  next  scene  opens  in  that  country,  Eng- 

91 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 


land,  France,  and  Europe  generally,  and  sea-travel- 
ling having  been  skipped  over. 

In  India  we  are  plunged  at  once  into  excitement. 
The  travellers,  including  the  detective,  who  has  by 
this  time  made  their  acquaintance,  are  found  in  the 
middle  of  a dense  jungle,  and  are  hiring  an  elephant 
for  ^iooo,  which  they  rightly  look  upon  as  an  exor- 
bitant price.  Then  comes  a funeral  procession.  A 
prince  has  died,  and  the  friendly  Indian  who  has 
made  the  bargain  about  the  elephant,  and  who  talks 
excellent  Japanese,  tells  them  that  the  widow  is  to 
be  burned  alive,  in  accordance  with  the  Indian  cus- 
tom tolerated  by  British  rule.  It  turns  out  that  the 
widow  in  question  is  a young  Japanese  girl,  who 
had  been  smuggled  out  of  her  native  country  by 
Chinamen  and  sold  to  the  Indian  prince.  This 
rouses  the  indignation  of  the  travellers,  and  they 
secrete  themselves  and  watch  the  procession  pass- 
ing. The  widow,  with  her  hair  down  her  back, 
follows  the  coffin,  and  is  dragged  along  by  a stal- 
wart Indian,  who  is  armed  with  a big  Turkish 
scimitar.  The  scene  changes  to  another  part  of 
the  jungle,  with  the  funeral  pyre  in  the  centre,  the 
widow  on  the  top  of  it,  and  a ring  of  Indians  dan- 
cing round  it  and  uttering  incantations.  The  fire  is 
lighted,  and  it  is  so  little  a stage  fire  that  the  whole 
of  the  scenery  appears  to  be  enveloped  in  flames, 
and  the  entire  theatre  is  actually  filled  with  smoke, 
until  the  audience  are  almost  suffocated.  But  for  a 
moment,  in  the  midst  of  the  flames,  appears  a huge 
monster  with  a hideous  face,  clasping  the  fainting 

92 


THE  NEW  SCHOOL  OF  DRAMA 


widow  round  the  waist.  The  Indians  are  filled  with 
superstitious  fear,  and  well  they  may  be,  for  the  fire 
would  have  burned  up  any  human  being  over  and 
over  again,  and,  believing  that  they  had  seen  the 
devil,  some  die  on  the  spot  and  others  run  away. 
After  all,  the  fearful  apparition  turns  out  to  be  the 
low  comedy  servant,  who  has  had  the  happy  idea  of 
placing  in  his  master’s  luggage  one  of  those  hideous 
Japanese  masks  with  which  every  curio  collector  is 
familiar. 

In  Hong  Kong  we  are  introduced  to  an  opium 
den,  with  very  realistic  Chinamen  in  various  stages 
of  intoxication.  Here  the  detective  successfully 
drugs  the  servant,  who  loses  his  master  for  the  time 
being.  Later  on  we  find  the  servant,  who,  in  the 
absence  of  his  master,  has  no  money,  earning  his 
living  in  Shanghai  as  a professional  juggler  under  a 
Chinese  showman.  Eventually  the  three  travellers 
come  together  again,  and  they,  with  the  rescued  her- 
oine, who  by  this  time  is  on  the  best  of  terms  with 
the  hero,  arrive  in  Yokohama.  But  they  have  not 
yet  been  round  the  world,  as  they  have  to  get  to 
Tokio.  However,  they  find  that  they  have  just 
time  to  catch  the  last  train  which  will  allow  them  to 
accomplish  their  object  in  the  specified  time.  But 
their  hopes  are  dashed  to  the  ground,  for  at  this 
point  they  are  arrested  through  the  machinations  of 
the  detective.  The  despair  of  the  hero  is  great,  and 
the  indignation  of  the  servant  extremely  comic,  as 
they  are  led  off  to  prison,  when  within  eighteen 
miles  of  their  destination,  by  the  Japanese  officials, 

93 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 

who  are  “always  unbending  in  their  duty.”  (More 
applause,  though  mixed  with  many  tears,  by  the  au- 
dience.) Eventually,  however,  the  error  is  found 
out,  the  real  robber  caught,  and  the  mistake  of  one 
day  in  their  calculations  is  established,  so  the  hero 
arrives  at  the  gates  of  the  Tokio  Club  just  at  the 
appointed  moment,  to  the  discomfiture  of  the  gentle- 
men who  are  waiting  for  him,  and  who  have  lost 
their  money,  and  in  spite  of  the  frantic  efforts  of  a 
mob  of  roughs  who,  having  also  put  their  money  on 
the  wrong  side,  do  all  they  can  by  physical  force  to 
prevent  his  arrival. 

There  is  a second  lady  waiting  for  the  hero  in 
Tokio,  who  appears  to  be  very  much  attached  to 
him,  but  whether  she  is  his  wife  or  not  I do  not 
know.  At  all  events  she  and  the  new-comer,  the 
widow  of  the  Indian  prince,  appear  pleased  to  meet 
each  other,  and  so  it  is  to  be  presumed  that  they  all 
live  happy  ever  afterwards. 

Of  course,  the  piece  is  full  of  incongruities  from 
beginning  to  end;  but,  bearing ’in  mind  the  con- 
ditions under  which  it  is  produced,  it  is  a wonderful 
piece  of  work.  The  scenery,  as  is  nearly  always  the 
case  in  Japanese  theatres,  is  artistic,  and  the  effects 
are  good.  And  when  it  is  taken  into  consideration 
that  the  performance  is  carried  on  in  semi-daylight, 
and  that  lime-lights  are  not  used,  the  difficulty  of  do- 
ing justice  to  scenery  can  be  appreciated.  As  an 
instance  of  the  enterprise  of  Kawakami  in  European- 
izing his  performance,  I would  point  out  that  he  has 
trained  an  orchestra  to  accompany  the  various  in- 

94 


DANJURO  AS  THE  CHIEF  OF  THE  FORTY-SEVEN  RONINS 

Photographed  by  Genroku-Kavan 


THE  NEW  SCHOOL  OF  DRAMA 


cidents  with  European  music.  I cannot  say  that  it 
is  a very  harmonious  one,  but  it  is  certainly  no  worse 
than  some  circus  bands  in  England.  And,  when  one 
bears  in  mind  that  the  musicians  are  playing  me- 
chanically airs  which  they  neither  understand  nor 
appreciate,  it  will  be  seen  that  Kawakami,  in  setting 
himself  the  task  of  modernizing  the  tastes  of  the 
Japanese  on  theatrical  matters,  is  not  shirking  any 
part  of  his  undertaking.  The  heroine  was  rescued 
to  the  strains  of  what  I believe  to  have  been  intended 
for  “ The  Roast  Beef  of  Old  England,”  while  her 
agony  scene,  before  the  fire  was  lighted,  was  ac- 
companied by  slow  music  in  the  shape  of  “ The  Last 
Rose  of  Summer  ” turned  out  on  a hand-organ.  The 
performance  terminated  with  “ God  Save  the  Queen,” 
possibly  because  I had  been  down  to  see  Kawakami 
in  his  dressing-room  between  the  acts. 

The  classical  performances  do  not  allow  the 
foreigner  to  gauge  in  any  detailed  manner  the  qual- 
ities of  the  Japanese  actors,  though,  in  a general  way, 
their  professional  skill  has  long  been  admitted.  Now, 
however,  that  Kawakami  is  working  on  European 
lines,  foreigners  have  a better  opportunity  of  forming 
comparisons  between  the  acting  here  and  elsewhere. 
The  striking  feature  to  be  noted  is  that  all  the  minor 
parts  are  worked  out  so  well,  and  filled  concientious- 
ly  and  naturally.  There  is  no  straining  after  effect, 
and  there  is  a total  absence  of  what  one  may  term 
the  “pantomime  crowd”  awkwardness  among  the 
supers.  The  policemen,  the  errand-boys,  and  the 
Indians  all  looked  like  natural  policemen,  errand- 

95 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 


boys,  and  Indians.  Even  the  hard-featured  and 
angular  American  mob  was  a fairly  good  imitation 
of  the  real  thing,  and  as  they  all  spoke  and  shouted 
and  swore  on  the  stage  in  English  and  French,  the 
effect  must  have  been  even  more  realistic  to  the  Jap- 
anese audience  than  it  was  to  a foreigner  who  knew 
the  languages  they  were  trying  to  speak.  Kawakami 
has  not  yet  succeeded  in  overcoming  the  prejudice 
which  exists  in  Japan  with  regard  to  women  and  men 
acting  together, and  all  his  female  parts  are  taken  by 
young  men.  He  thinks,  however,  that  this  change  will 
come  with  time,  and  there  is  no  doubt  that  it  would 
greatly  improve  the  performance  if  such  were  the  case. 
Various  writers  on  Japan  put  this  practice  of  keeping 
women  and  men  apart  at  the  theatre  down  to  a ques- 
tion of  morality,  but  it  is  difficult  to  see  how  this  could 
have  any  effect  on  morals.  Any  one  who  has  been 
behind  the  scenes  at  a Japanese  theatre  must  have 
seen  many  women  there.  It  is  quite  the  usual  thing 
for  wives  of  the  actors,  as  also  for  their  sisters  and 
their  cousins  and  their  aunts  and  female  servants 
to  act  as  dressers  and  helpers,  and  it  cannot  be  sup- 
posed that  the  actual  presence  on  the  stage  of  ac- 
tresses with  the  actors  could  make  any  difference 
whatever  to  their  moral  relations.  There  are  many 
theatres  where  women  act  by  themselves,  and  from 
the  point  of  view  of  the  public  they  are  in  no  way 
inferior  to  the  men  as  dramatic  exponents,  but  up 
to  the  present  their  pieces  are  confined  to  the  clas- 
sical repertoire  of  the  country.  Kawakami  tells  me 
that  none  of  these  actresses  would  do  for  his  class 

96 


ACTRESS  IN  OLD  STYLE  PLAY 


Photographed  by  Genroku-Kwan 


THE  NEW  SCHOOL  OF  DRAMA 


of  piece,  and  that  it  will  take  some  time  to  educate 
women  specially  to  take  his  parts.  Danjuro,  whom 
I also  questioned  on  the  subject,  maintained  that 
there  was  only  one  actress  in  Japan  whose  render- 
ing of  the  classical  pieces  was  at  all  on  a par  with 
that  of  the  men  who  take  the  women’s  parts  in  his 
theatre.  This  lady’s  name  is  Fukuti,  and  she  is  ad- 
mittedly the  best  Japanese  actress,  even  for  young 
parts,  although  she  is  fifty-three  years  of  age. 

The  law  at  one  time  prohibited  men  and  women 
appearing  together  on  the  stage,  and  by  the  time  it 
was  rescinded  the  habit  of  doing  without  each  other 
had  become  so  ingrained  that  it  was  not  found  ad- 
visable to  alter  the  existing  methods.  The  only 
concession  that  Danjuro  has  ever  made  in  this  re- 
spect is  when  he  took  part  in  a short  play  with  the 
French  actress,  Madame  Theo,  who  was  on  a visit 
to  Japan.  The  piece  was  specially  written  for  the 
occasion,  she  acting  in  French  and  he  in  Japanese, 
and  the  prompter  being  an  ex-member  of  the  Japan- 
ese legation  in  Paris.  Danjuro  told  me  that  this 
was  the  only  occasion  on  which  acting  had  been  an 
effort  to  him.  There  is  no  doubt  that  the  modern- 
izing of  the  drama  will  bring  about  before  long  the 
mixing  of  the  sexes  on  the  stage,  for,  with  the  im- 
provements in  stage-lighting  which  Kawakami  will 
find  necessary  to  give  effect  to  his  modern  scenery, 
the  men  who  act  as  women  will  no  longer  look  as 
natural  in  these  parts  as  they  do  at  present.  That 
the  theatre  on  modern  lines  should  have  found  a 
footing  in  Japan  is  a cause  for  congratulation,  and 
g 97 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 


affords  one  more  sign  of  the  rapid  progress  which 
the  country  is  making.  That  it  should  oust  the 
classical  drama  is  out  of  the  question,  but  that  it 
will  take  an  increasingly  prominent  position  may  be 
foretold  with  equal  certainty. 

The  fact  of  the  matter  is  that  until  recently,  so 
long  as  Japan  was  shut  up  within  itself,  the  theatre 
had  to  rely  on  essentially  Japanese  subjects,  his- 
torical and  otherwise,  for  its  plays.  Now,  however, 
that  the  knowledge  of  the  people  is  increasing,  and 
they  are  becoming  more  cosmopolitan  in  their  views 
and  habits,  they  require  a wider  range  in  their 
theatrical  repertoire , which  will  accord  to  a greater 
extent  with  their  aims  and  ambitions  of  the  present 
day. 


CHAPTER  VI 


THE  POSITION  AND  PROSPECTS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

When  writing  on  the  subject  of  the  progress  of 
civilization  in  a country,  one  cannot  very  well  avoid 
touching  on  the  subject  of  Christianity.  Many  per- 
sons hold  the  view  that  civilization  is  the  direct  out- 
come of  Christianity  ; a still  greater  number  consider 
that  the  one  forms  an  essential  feature  of  the  other ; 
and,  in  any  case,  it  would  be  a difficult  matter  to  point 
to  a single  country  of  first-class  standing,  a great 
Power,  which  is  not,  in  name  at  all  events,  Christian. 

If  Japan,  therefore,  is  destined  to  become  a great 
Power,  she  has  to  make  up  her  mind  either  to  fall 
in  with  the  religious  views  of  the  rest  of  the  modern 
world,  or  to  prove  her  capacity  to  run  satisfactorily 
on  her  own  religious  lines,  as  the  one  exception  to 
the  rule. 

The  present  state  of  Christianity  in  Japan  is  at 
once  a painful  and  an  unsatisfactory  subject  to  write 
about.  One  of  the  leading  J apanese  journals  recently 
stated  that  “when  Christianity  first  came  to  Japan  it 
was  warmly  welcomed;  in  after-years  it  was  bitterly 
opposed ; and,  at  the  present  day,  it  is  treated  with 
indifference.”  And  there  is  no  doubt  that  this  short 
sentence  accurately  sums  up  the  state  of  affairs. 

99 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 


When  the  Dutch,  centuries  ago,  began  to  preach 
Christianity  in  Japan,  the  people  of  the  country, 
struck  with  the  profound  knowledge  and  general 
superiority  of  their  teachers,  readily  came  to  the  con- 
clusion that  the  religion  of  men  who  could  do  and 
tell  them  such  wonderful  things  must  be  a better  one 
than  their  own.  At  the  time,  therefore,  of  the  early 
missionaries  there  were  undoubtedly  many  thousands 
of  real  Christians  among  the  Japanese.  Then,  with 
the  advent  of  the  Spaniards  and  French,  Papistry  and 
Protestantism  were  pitted  against  each  other,  in  the 
same  manner  as  has  for  centuries  been  the  case  in 
many  countries  nearer  home,  and  with  the  same  de- 
plorable results. 

The  Protestants  were  able  to  convince  the  Japan- 
ese that  the  Catholics  were  not  Christians,  and  were 
merely,  under  the  guise  of  Christianity,  plotting 
against  the  State.  Some  were  therefore  massacred, 
and  the  rest  driven  out  of  the  country. 

But  the  Japanese  soon  became  aware  that  both 
Protestants  and  Catholics  were  Christians,  and  they 
quickly  came  to  the  conclusion  that,  if  one  branch 
of  that  religion  could  hatch  treasonable  designs,  the 
other  might  possibly  do  the  same.  The  bitter  hos- 
tility between  the  two  sections  of  one  religion  shook 
the  faith  of  the  Japanese  in  Christianity;  and,  in  that 
abrupt  manner  which  to  the  present  day  character- 
izes many  of  her  political  actions,  Japan  determined 
to  have  no  more  Christianity,  and  no  more  foreigners. 
When,  after  the  lapse  of  years,  the  foreigner  was  once 
more  admitted  to  certain  treaty  - ports,  and,  under 


IOO 


PROSPECTS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 


stringent  restrictions,  to  other  portions  of  Japan,  the 
inevitable  missionary  followed  in  the  wake  of  the 
business  man,  and  did  much  excellent  work. 

At  first  his  task  seemed  easy.  He  erected  schools, 
which  readily  filled  with  pupils,  who  were  eager  to 
learn  everything  that  the  foreigner  was  willing  to 
teach  them.  So  it  looked,  on  the  face  of  it,  as  if 
Christianity  were  making  progress ; for  this  rush  for 
knowledge,  and  especially  for  a knowledge  of  the 
English  language,  was  mistaken  for  a rush  for  Chris- 
tianity. 

Now,  the  average  Japanese  has  a highly  developed 
desire  to  avoid  hurting  people’s  feelings;  and,  as  an 
effect  of  this,  when  he  went  to  a mission  school  to 
learn  English  without  paying  for  it,  he  raised  no  ob- 
jection to  being  called  a Christian  for  the  time  being. 
He  fell  in  with  this  practice,  from  very  much  the 
same  motive  as  that  which  prompts  even  a free- 
thinker to  take  off  his  hat  when  he  enters  a sacred 
edifice.  It  was  the  right  thing  to  do,  and  he  did  it. 
But  when  the  pupil  left  school  he  left  his  Christi- 
anity, with  his  school-books,  behind  him,  as  a matter 
of  course. 

Again,  a Japanese  is  essentially  a man  who  can 
adapt  himself  to  circumstances,  as  any  one  who  has 
seen  him  out  of  his  country  must  admit.  And  it  is 
in  the  carrying  out  of  this  strongly  developed  in- 
stinct that,  when  a young  Japanese  goes  to  Europe, 
he,  by  a species  of  evolution,  becomes  a “ Christian  ” 
from  the  moment  he  leaves  his  country  until  he  re- 
turns home.  The  Japanese  professor,  or  other  ex- 


IOI 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 


perienced  adviser,  will  say  to  the  young  man  starting 
on  his  travels : “You  had  better  buy  a Bible,  and  go 
to  church  when  you  are  away ; it  may  make  things 
easier  for  you,  and  cannot  do  any  harm.” 

The  equivalent  of  the  above  advice  would  be 
found  in  an  Englishman  who  had  travelled  saying 
to  one  who  was  about  to  do  so:  “When  you  go  to 
Japan  you  had  better  take  out  a passport.  You  may 
or  may  not  have  occasion  to  use  it,  but  it  is  just  as 
well  to  have  one  by  you.” 

Opinions  differ  widely  as  to  how  far  the  principle 
of  adapting  one’s  self  to  circumstances  is  a virtue, 
and  how  far  a vice ; but  in  England,  at  all  events,  to 
be  too  accommodating  in  this  way  in  religious  mat- 
ters is  looked  upon  as  being  somewhat  contemptible. 
No  doubt  a Japanese,  when  travelling,  sometimes 
finds  that  the  policy  of  pretending  to  be  a Christian 
may  have  the  effect  of  rounding  off  some  of  the 
rough  corners  which  he  is  bound  to  come  across  in 
his  contact  with  some  foreigners  in  the  course  of  his 
travels ; but  it  is  equally  certain  that  he  would  often 
be  regarded  with  greater  respect  by  a great  many 
people  if,  when  questioned,  he  were  to  admit  his  real 
religious  views. 

The  assumed  “Christianity”  of  the  travelling 
Japanese,  however,  cannot  be  attributed  altogether 
to  hypocrisy,  for  the  modern  Japanese  man,  at  all 
events,  has  not,  as  a rule,  very  strong  religious  ten- 
dencies of  any  sort.  Many  of  the  educated  classes 
have  as  much  knowledge  of  Christianity  as  they 
have  of  Buddhism,  the  rudiments  of  the  Christian 

i 


102 


PROSPECTS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 


faith  being  of  a much  more  simple  nature  than  those 
of  the  other;  and  the  rush  for  modern  education 
having  elbowed  out  many  of  the  opportunities  offered 
in  the  old  days  for  profound  religious  study. 

Shintoism,  which  many  foreign  authorities  main- 
tain to  be  no  religion  at  all,  amply  suffices  for  the 
requirements  of  the  ordinary  Japanese  of  to-day. 
A faith,  which  consists  in  the  worshipping  of  one’s 
ancestors  mainly,  it  is  to  be  presumed  on  account 
of  their  having  brought  into  the  world  so  perfect  a 
specimen  of  humanity  as  one’s  self,  is  essentially  a 
self-satisfying  belief,  and  one  which,  if  it  tends  to 
self-assertion,  essentially  helps  to  hold  families  and 
the  nation  together.  But  there  is  a want  of  con- 
viction among  the  Japanese  about  religion  in  any 
form. 

As  pointed  out  above,  it  is  neither  ignorance  of 
the  subject,  nor  hostility  to  it,  which  has  caused  the 
Japanese  to  eschew  Christianity,  for  the  younger 
generation,  at  all  events,  have  a more  complete 
knowledge  of  its  doctrines  than  have  many  of  the 
half-educated  missionaries  who  go  out  to  teach  them. 
But  the  heads  of  the  modern  Japanese  are  full  of 
the  doctrines  of  John  Stuart  Mill,  Auguste  Comte, 
and  others,  whose  writings  they  have  studied  side 
by  side  with  the  Bible,  and  it  is  easy  to  understand 
that  the  materialist  philosophy  of  such  authors  must 
appeal  strongly  to  the  Japanese,  who,  in  searching 
after  foreign  knowledge,  are  striving  to  adopt  our 
practical  or  material  qualities  rather  than  our  spiritual 
virtues.  Thus  it  is  that  the  soil  is  an  uncongenial 

103 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 


one  for  a new  religion,  whatever  that  religion  may 
be;  and  again,  the  Japanese,  since  their  war  with 
China,  are  so  satisfied  with  themselves,  and  are  so 
busy  in  dealing  with  practical  matters,  that  the  mo- 
ment is  not  opportune  for  spiritual  innovations. 

To  attempt  to  give  an  accurate  notion  as  to  the 
number  of  bona  fide  Japanese  Christians  at  the 
present  day  would  be  absolutely  impossible.  But 
one  may  safely  say  that  there  is  not  one  in  every 
100,000  of  the  population.  Missionary  statistics, 
however,  do  not  point  to  this  state  of  affairs,  for 
the  returns  still  show  what  purport  to  be  conversions 
to  Christianity.  But,  unless  the  good  faith  of  the 
missionaries  is  called  into  question,  one  must  as- 
sume that  they  have  been  misled  into  considering 
that  if  a Japanese  in  talking  to  them  did  not  combat 
the  principles  of  Christianity  he  must  necessarily  be 
a Christian.  Now,  when  a Japanese  is  in  contact 
with  a foreigner  whom  he  believes  to  have  strong 
religious  feelings,  the  last  thing  he  would  think  of 
doing,  as  a rule,  would  be  to  offer  any  opposition 
to  such  convictions,  and  the  people  of  the  lower 
classes,  until  recently,  at  all  events,  had  no  objection 
whatever  to  being  entered  in  the  missionary  returns 
as  “ Christians.”  To  such  people  the  form  of  bap- 
tism, as  a rule,  meant  nothing  whatever  beyond  the 
fact  that  they  were  going  through  an  unnecessary 
ceremony  to  satisfy  the  fad  of  a foreigner,  who  had 
perhaps  been  kind  or  who  might  some  day  be  of 
service  to  them.  The  fact  of  having  gone  through 
the  form  of  baptism  would  not  change  in  any  way 


PROSPECTS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 


their  original  faith,  if  they  had  any,  in  their  own  re- 
ligion ; nor  would  it  strike  them  that  they  were  ex- 
pected to  exhibit  such  an  effect. 

It  is  to  be  presumed,  therefore,  that  the  returns  of 
“Japanese  Christians,”  which  are  sent  to  Europe 
and  America  from  time  to  time,  comprise  every  Jap- 
anese who  raises  no  objection  to  being  called  a 
Christian  to  please  the  missionaries.  The  number 
of  such  “ Christians  ” is  no  doubt  very  great,  and 
they  may  be  divided  roughly  into  the  following 
classes: 

1.  Professional  Christians , who  make  their  living  in  one  way  or 

another  by  working  for  the  missionaries. 

2.  Interested  Christians , who  derive  material  benefits  by  falling 

in  with  missionary  views. 

3.  Nominal  Christians , who  have  been  in  contact  with  mis- 

sionaries, and  who  for  various  reasons  raise  no  objection 
to  being  so  styled. 

4.  Temporary  Christians,  who  are  the  children  and  others  pass- 

ing through  the  missionary  schools  for  purpose  of  being 
educated  in  foreign  subjects. 

5.  Christians  from  force  of  circumstances.  The  native  wives 

and  servants  of  such  of  the  Europeans  as  insist  on  their 
dependants  observing  Christianity;  and  a portion  of  the 
Eurasian  population. 


The  extending  education  of  the  lower  classes  is 
now,  however,  beginning  to  make  it  clear  to  them 
that  the  form  of  baptism  should  carry  with  it  a moral 
obligation  of  some  sort  to  change  their  religious 
methods ; and  no  doubt  it  is  on  this  account  that 
there  is  a growing  distaste  among  even  the  poorer 
Japanese  to  call  themselves  Christians. 

Certain  it  is  that,  now  that  English  and  other 
modern  subjects  can  be  taught  in  the  Japanese 

I05 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 


schools,  and  in  foreign  schools  where  Christianity 
has  no  place,  the  missionaries  find  it  increasingly 
difficult  to  get  pupils.  Consequently,  in  spite  of  the 
fact  that  hundreds  of  thousands  of  pounds  have  been 
spent  on  buildings  with  the  idea  of  utilizing  them 
in  the  propagation  of  the  Gospel,  many  of  these  in- 
stitutions are  now  either  nearly  empty,  or  in  them 
Christianity  has  been  so  wrapped  up  in  other  sub- 
jects as  to  convert  them  into  secular  schools  to  all 
intents  and  purposes.  So  that,  at  the  present  day, 
the  Japanese  is  getting  tired  even  of  pretending  to 
be  a Christian,  which  is  perhaps  more  satisfactory 
after  all ; for,  when  all  pretence  has  been  done  away 
with,  there  will  certainly  remain  some  genuine  con- 
verts, and  it  is  only  then  that  one  will  be  able  really 
to  gauge  to  what  extent  Christianity  has  had  any 
effect. 

But,  while  everything  seems  to  point  to  the  fact 
that  the  present  day  Japanese  have  no  liking  for  the 
Christian  religion,  we  cannot  shut  our  eyes  to  the 
fact  that  they  have  never  had  an  opportunity  of  see- 
ing the  best  side  of  Christianity.  Enormous  sums 
of  money,  it  is  true,  have  been  squandered  by  well- 
meaning  people  to  Christianize  the  country,  but 
unfortunately  this  work  has  been  intrusted  largely 
to  men  who  are  utterly  unqualified,  either  by  educa- 
tion, training,  or  mode  of  life,  for  dealing  with  the 
subject. 

This  may  seem  a strong  statement  to  make,  but, 
in  doing  so,  I believe  I am  expressing  the  feelings 
even  of  the  accredited  representatives  of  the  Church 

106 


PROSPECTS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 


of  England  in  Japan.  The  conviction  that  the 
interests  of  Christianity  are  being  misused  by  the 
missionaries  is  so  strong,  that  many  of  the  leading 
Protestant  foreigners  maintain  that  the  Roman 
Catholics  are  the  only  body  of  workers  who  are 
effecting  any  real  progress  in  the  conversion  of  the 
Japanese.  The  reason  for  this  is  very  plain.  All 
the  missionaries  sent  out  by  the  Roman  Church 
are  thoroughly  educated  men ; they  also  form  a 
band  between  whose  members  there  is  no  sign  of 
dissension.  They  work  in  their  own  way,  consci- 
entiously, systematically,  and  without  ostentation; 
living  the  lives  of  the  people,  on  extremely  inade- 
quate pay;  and  the  example  afforded  by  the  lives 
of  the  priests  and  the  sisters  is  accomplishing 
results  in  those  parts  of  Japan,  usually  rather  re- 
mote ones,  and  always  in  extremely  poor  districts, 
where  they  carry  on  their  work.  The  bona  fide 
Japanese  Christian  of  to-day  is,  in  consequence,  a 
Roman  Catholic  rather  than  a Protestant. 

There  are  many  good,  zealous,  and  educated  men 
representing  the  Protestant  missions  in  Japan,  but 
the  effect  of  their  work  is  continually  discounted  by 
the  mass  of  uneducated  men  and  women,  some  of 
whom  are  more  or  less  attached  to  organized  mis- 
sions, and  some  of  whom  are  merely  free  lances, 
but  whose  actions  have  done,  and  are  doing,  infinite 
harm  to  the  prospects  of  Christianity,  and  especially 
to  the  Protestant  section  of  it. 

To  convey  a proper  idea  as  to  how  this  evil 
exists,  it  is  necessary  to  explain  what  mission- 

107 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 


work  in  Japan  means.  To  the  English  reader 
the  word  missionary  usually  implies  a career  con- 
taining a certain  amount  of  hardship,  self  - denial, 
and  sometimes  even  a risk  of  life.  It  does  not 
follow,  however,  that  a man  may  not  be  a thor- 
oughly good  and  efficient  propagator  of  the  Gospel 
without  enduring  hardship.  Now  in  Japan  at  the 
present  day  it  is  extremely  difficult  to  encounter 
either  serious  hardship  in  the  way  of  living,  climate, 
or  extreme  filth  of  surroundings;  and  risk  of  life 
is  practically  absent.  Therefore  missionaries  may 
be  excused  for  not  being  able  to  find  thoroughly 
disagreeable  surroundings  in  Japan,  even  if  they 
felt  inclined  to  do  so.  To  use  the  words  of  a well- 
known  and  much-respected  clergyman  who  has  lived 
many  years  in  Japan,  “ The  life  of  the  ordinarily  con- 
scientious curate  of,  say,  an  industrial  town  in  Eng- 
land, entails  vastly  more  privation  than  is  the  case 
even  with  a conscientious  missionary  in  Japan.” 

One  of  the  great  faults  of  the  Protestant  mission- 
aries here  is  that  they  have  not  mastered  the  funda- 
mental principle  of  Christianity,  “ Brethren,  love 
one  another;”  and  the  consequence  is  that  the  time 
which  should  be  devoted  to  Christianizing  Japan  is 
largely  taken  up  by  degrading  squabbles  between 
the  representatives  of  the  various  shades  of  Protes- 
tantism about  their  respective  methods,  and  the 
details  of  their  faith.  These  petty  quibbles  only 
tend  to  lower  Christianity,  as  exemplified  by  its  ex- 
ponents, in  the  eyes  of  the  Japanese.  The  local 
foreign  papers  here  teem  with  rancorous  letters  from 

108 


PROSPECTS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 


one  missionary  to  another,  often  couched  in  doubt- 
ful English,  displaying  an  ignorance  of  Christian 
matters,  and  containing  unchristian  sentiments.  The 
air  is  thick  with  childish  and  vituperative  pamphlets, 
paid  for  by  the  supporters  of  these  missions ; and 
whatever  the  object  of  such  literature  may  be,  it  can 
have  but  the  one  result,  of  lessening  the  chances  of 
Christianity  in  a foreign  country. 

It  is  difficult  of  course  to  determine  what  consti- 
tutes a missionary  and  what  does  not,  and  often  it  is 
urged  that  many  of  these  half-educated  and  ag- 
gressive preachers  are  not  attached  to  a “recog- 
nized mission.”  Certain  it  is  that  almost  all  shades, 
and  sections  of  shades,  of  Protestant  opinion  are 
nominally  represented  here,  some  by  conscientious 
men,  and  some  by  competent  men;  but  in  many 
cases  by  a very  low  class  of  persons  who  profess  to 
represent  some  peculiar  religious  fad,  and  whose 
only  method  in  the  propagating  of  it  is  to  vilify  their 
brethren  in  Christianity — Protestant  or  Catholic. 

What  is  the  natural  effect  of  this  sort  of  thing  on 
the  mind  of  the  intelligent  and  partially  enlightened 
Japanese  of  to-day?  He  is  approached  by  a man  far 
beneath  him  in  intellect  and  in  education,  who  urges 
him  to  forsake  his  pagan  gods  and  become  a Chris- 
tian. “ What  sort  of  Christian  ?”  is  the  natural  re- 
joinder. “ One  of  your  sort,  or  one  of  the  sort 
advocated  by  your  brother  in  Christianity,  who  sent 
me  this  pamphlet  last  week  describing  you  as  a 
worthless  charlatan  ? Which  of  the  hundred  and 
one  sects  represented  out  here  am  I to  belong  to? 

109 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 


For  you  are  always  casting  mud  at  each  other,  and 
I do  not  know  which  to  believe.” 

Some  years  ago,  when  I was  in  very  close  touch  with 
that  astute  veteran  Chinese  Statesman,  Li  Hung 
Chang,  his  Excellency  had  occasion  one  day  to  in- 
terview an  American  missionary  who  had  been  im- 
portuning him  on  the  subject  of  the  outrages  on 
missionaries  in  China.  “ Why  don’t  he  become  a 
Christian  right  away,  and  set  a good  example?” 
was  the  first  question  put  by  this  enthusiastic  divine 
to  Li  Hung  Chang  through  the  interpreter.  In- 
stead of  replying  directly  the  Viceroy  asked  a 
counter-question,  as  has  ever  been  his  way.  This 
was,  “ Who  was  Jesus  Christ?”  “Why,  our  Saviour, 
of  course,”  was  the  reply.  “ Yes,  yes,  I know,”  said 
his  Excellency ; “ but  what  I meant  to  ask  you  was, 
what  is  the  meaning  of  the  word  Christ?”  The 
missionary  hesitated;  then,  turning  to  the  inter- 
preter, said,  triumphantly : “ Guess  it  don’t  mean 
much.  Tell  him  his  name  is  Li  Hung  Chang, 
and  that  don’t  mean  anything;  and  Christ  was  called 
Christ,  that’s  all.”  “ His  Excellency  says  you  are 
wrong,”  said  the  interpreter.  “ Li  Hung  Chang 
means  ‘ever  glorious  plum-tree’  (I  think  that  was 
his  rendering),  and  he  was  under  the  impression 
that  Christ  signified  ‘ Anointed.’  ” “ Well,”  said  the 

missionary,  “ some  people  may  attach  that  meaning 
or  any  other  to  it.  But  He  was  our  Saviour.”  Li 
Hung  Chang  and  his  secretary  exchanged  a few  words, 
and  then  the  latter,  addressing  the  missionary,  said, 
“ His  Excellency  is  of  opinion  that  if,  when  you  get 


no 


PROSPECTS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 


to  China,  you  will  place  oil  on  your  head,  and  call 
yourself  ‘ Christ,’  the  Chinamen  will  not  know  that 
you  are  not  speaking  the  truth.”  To  my  surprise, 
the  missionary  was  not  at  all  ashamed  of  the  part  he 
had  taken  in  the  above  conversation,  and  proclaimed 
it  on  the  housetops  as  illustrative,  not  of  his  own 
ignorance — for  the  humiliation  of  beingbeaten  on  his 
own  ground  had  not  struck  him  at  all — but  as  an 
instance  of  the  depravity  of  mind  even  of  the  edu- 
cated Chinaman. 

I have  quoted  this  instance  for  the  purpose  of 
showing  the  class  of  men  to  whom  is  sometimes  in- 
trusted the  propagation  of  the  Gospel  from  the  Prot- 
estant stand-point  in  that  part  of  the  world.  Such 
men  may  possibly  do  some  good  in  dealing  with 
savages,  for  they  may  be  genuine  though  ignorant 
Christians.  The  missionary  in  question  was  des- 
tined to  work  in  China,  but  there  are  scores  of  them 
not  one  whit  more  intelligent  or  better  versed  in 
their  subject  than  the  above  gentleman  to  be  found 
in  Japan,  doing  their  utmost,  perhaps  unwittingly, 
to  bring  into  contempt  the  faith  which  they  are  sup- 
posed to  be  propagating. 

I am  told  that  there  are  not  very  far  short  of 
2000  paid  foreign  missionaries,  male  and  female,  in 
Japan;  and,  as  their  method  of  life  is  so  different 
from  that  with  which  one  usually  associates  mission 
work,  it  is  as  well  to  give  a few  data  with  regard  to 
these  matters.  With  the  exception  of  the  Catholics, 
their  payment  is  extremely  good.  They  form  their 
own  colonies  and  their  own  society,  they  live  in  good 

in 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 


houses  and  on  good  food.  Many  of  them,  though 
paid  as  missionaries,  run  a successful  commerce  in 
connection  with  their  religious  work.  In  the  warm 
weather  the  Tokio  missionaries  migrate  in  a body 
to  the  mountains  for  months  at  a time,  where  they 
have  also  good  houses  of  their  own,  and  where  they 
speculate  in  house  property  to  a very  considerable 
extent. 

The  American  missionaries  are  so  strong  a body 
in  Japan  that  they  even  have  a considerable  voice 
in  matters  as  to  who  shall  hold  office  in  the  United 
States  Legation  in  Tokio.  The  consequence  of 
this  is  that  they  can,  and  do,  give  their  official  rep- 
resentatives a lot  of  unwarrantable  trouble,  and  ma- 
terially hamper  the  political  machinery  of  their 
country. 

These  are  the  sort  of  men  who  swamp  any  good 
that  the  conscientious  missionaries  can  do  in  Japan. 
For  it  must  be  remembered  that  whether  a man  is 
a “ crank,”  or  a fanatic,  an  American  lodging-house 
keeper,  a German  quack  doctor,  a Dutch  land  agent, 
or  an  English  curio  dealer,  if  he  incidentally  throws 
in  some  mission  work  for  which  he  is  paid,  he  be- 
comes, in  the  eyes  of  the  Japanese,  an  exponent  of 
Christianity,  and  his  ludicrous  behavior  tends  to 
burlesque  and  counteract  the  work  of  the  bona  fide 
representatives  of  the  Christian  faith. 

As  a matter  of  fact,  rather  than  making  Japanese 
converts,  the  actions  of  these  men  tend  to  alienate 
from  Christianity  the  sympathies  of  their  country- 
men there,  or,  at  any  rate,  to  lessen  the  incentive  to 


PROSPECTS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 


religious  observance  on  the  part  of  the  foreigners, 
who  do  not  care  to  be  identified  with  men  of  that 
stamp. 

Thus  Christianity,  in  the  true  sense  of  the  word, 
as  far  as  the  Japanese  are  concerned,  is  in  as  bad  a 
state  as  it  possibly  could  be,  without  being  absolutely 
extinct ; and  the  most  painful  part  of  it  all  is,  that 
this  has  been  mainly  brought  about  by  a large  sec- 
tion of  the  men  whose  care  it  should  have  been  to 
look  after  it. 

And  yet,  and  this  is  the  irony  of  fate,  there  is  a 
distinct  possibility  that  Japan  may,  within  a few 
years,  suddenly  become  a “ Christian  ” country.  Such 
an  eventuality  would  not,  however,  be  the  result  of 
conviction,  nor  of  sympathy  with  Christianity,  nor 
would  it  be  due  to  the  preachings  of  the  present-day 
missionary,  but  in  spite  of  them.  Should  it  take 
place,  it  would  mean  that  a law  had  been  passed 
establishing  Christianity  as  the  national  religion,  and 
the  Japanese  people  would  accept  the  change  with- 
out troubling  themselves.  This  would  have  been 
enacted  from  a similar  motive  to  that  which  has 
prompted  Japan  to  purchase  ironclads,  to  adopt  a 
gold  currency,  and  to  educate  her  people  on  modern 
lines.  It  would  be  merely  the  logical  following  out 
of  her  policy  of  putting  herself  on  a level  footing  in 
all  respects  with  the  rest  of  the  civilized  world. 

Business  men  all  over  the  world  are  now  leaving 
no  stone  unturned  to  see  that  their  interests  are 
properly  served  in  Japan;  and  it  is  high  time,  if  we 
wish  to  Christianize  the  country,  that  the  responsible 

”3 


H 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 


ecclesiastical  authorities  in  England  and  America 
should  make  a strong  effort  to  see  how  the  interests 
of  Christianity  are  being  served  here. 

Throughout  this  chapter  I have  taken  it  for  granted 
that  it  is  a desirable  thing  to  endeavor  to  force  Chris- 
tianity on  the  Japanese.  But  any  one  who  knows 
the  Far  East  cannot  gainsay  the  fact  that  in  those 
parts  of  Asia  where  missionaries  have  apparently 
succeeded  in  making  “ converts  ” the  practical  result 
has  usually  been  that,  in  renouncing  their  own  faith, 
these  so-called  Christians  have  merely  been  reduced 
to  having  no  bona  fide  faith  at  all,  and  have  become 
debased  and  degraded  in  the  process  of  conversion 
to  a “ Christianity  ” which  is  only  Christian  in  name. 


CHAPTER  VII 


THE  MORAL  STANDARD 

There  is  a treaty-port  proverb  to  the  effect  that 
Japan  is  a country  where  the  flowers  are  without 
perfume,  the  birds  without  song,  the  men  without 
honor,  and  the  women  without  virtue.  I do  not 
know  who  originated  the  saying,  but  of  all  the 
sweeping  and  unjust  statements  that  have  been 
made  of  Japan  and  the  Japanese  I think  that  this 
is  the  worst.  The  unfortunate  part  of  it  all  is  that 
the  superficial  visitor  as  a rule  accepts  it  as  being 
true  without  question ; and  he  does  this  the  more 
easily  as  the  first  portion  of  the  proverb  contains  a 
certain  amount  of  obvious  truth.  As  a matter  of 
fact,  the  above  saying  begins  with  the  weakest  of 
platitudes  and  ends  with  the  lowest  of  libels. 

The  many  writers  who  have  set  themselves  the 
task  of  blackening  the  moral  character  of  the  Japan- 
ese may  have  been  acting  conscientiously;  but  I 
have  often  wondered  which  of  the  ostensibly  civ- 
ilized and  Christian  nations  of  the  world  they  have 
had  in  their  mind’s  eye  as  a contrast  when  they  were 
drawing  their  conclusions  as  to  the  low  standard  of 
Japanese  morals. 

Many  of  the  writers  in  question  have  maintained 

*15 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 


that  this  alleged  immorality  is  innate  and  vicious; 
while  others,  who  have  seemed  to  wish  to  palliate  or 
excuse  a deplorable  state  of  affairs  which,  in  reality, 
does  not  exist  more  in  Japan  than  elsewhere,  have 
urged  as  an  extenuating  circumstance  that  such 
want  of  morals  is  merely  due  to  that  lack  of  the 
power  of  discrimination  between  right  and  wrong 
which  those  same  writers  have  laid  down  as  being 
one  of  the  most  prominent  traits  in  the  Japanese 
character. 

The  subject  of  the  morality  of  any  country  is  a 
delicate  and  difficult  one  to  handle,  and  it  is  to  be 
regretted  that  so  many  foreign  writers  have  dealt 
both  recklessly  and  roughly  with  the  question  of 
Japanese  morals. 

In  endeavoring  to  probe  most  Japanese  questions 
the  European  must  begin  by  making  his  mind  a 
blank — that  is  to  say,  he  should  eliminate  everything 
in  the  shape  of  prejudice.  In  studying  the  language, 
for  instance,  his  own  classics  will  not  help  him, 
either  in  the  construction  of  phrases  or  in  the  mean- 
ing of  words.  In  making  up  his  mind  to  live  in 
Japanese  houses  he  must  put  away  from  him  all 
his  convictions  as  to  what  constitutes  comfort,  and 
begin  afresh.  Then,  again,  in  learning  to  relish 
Japanese  food,  the  only  thing  for  him  to  do  is  to 
forget  what  he  has  been  in  the  habit  of  eating 
elsewhere.  So  it  is  with  the  morality  of  the  coun- 
try; for  if  we  start  from  the  stand-point  that,  be- 
cause such  and  such  a thing  is  not  countenanced 
in  certain  other  countries  it  must  of  necessity  be 

116 


THE  MORAL  STANDARD 


immoral,  then  there  is  nothing  more  to  be  said,  for 
certainly  the  Japanese  must  be  immoral  through  and 
through. 

If  we  are  to  assume  that  our  British  legal  and 
theoretical  codes  of  morality  are  perfect,  and  that  we 
are  all  in  the  habit  of  acting  up  to  the  standard  af- 
forded by  them,  then  we  may  claim  a right  to  fall 
foul  of  the  Japanese  with  regard  to  their  methods  in 
this  respect.  But  the  man  of  the  world  cannot  for 
a moment  accept  either  of  these  assumptions.  For 
if  he  is  capable  of  reading  our  contemporary  books 
and  newspapers,  or  of  walking  in  the  streets  of  our 
larger  and,  consequently,  more  essentially  civilized 
towns,  he  can  only  form  the  impression  that,  how- 
ever satisfied  he  may  be  with  himself  and  his  coun- 
try in  most  respects,  there  still  remains  sufficient 
room  for  moral  improvement  at  home  to  warrant  his 
treating  the  morality  of  other  and  less  civilized  na- 
tions at  all  events  with  a gentle  hand. 

I do  not  propose  in  this  chapter  to  compare  in  de- 
tail Japanese  morals  with  those  of  any  individual 
Western  nation,  for  such  a comparison  would  be 
practically  impossible,  owing  to  the  differences  in 
the  conditions  of  life.  If,  however,  one  adopts  the 
only  fair  basis — viz.,  that  of  accepting,  for  purposes 
of  argument,  the  local  laws,  religion,  and  social  sur- 
roundings of  the  country — one  can  only  come  to  the 
conclusion  that  the  Japanese  are  by  no  means  less 
moral  than  the  people  of  many  countries  who  are 
wont  to  exalt  their  own  superiority  in  this  respect. 
When,  therefore,  I speak  of  morality  in  this  chapter, 

1 17 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 


I am  taking  it  only  on  its  broad  lines.  I am  assum- 
ing that  morality  means  the  possession  of  decent 
instincts,  coupled  with  a modest  and  respectable  de- 
meanor, and,  in  the  case  of  married  people,  conjugal 
fidelity.  I am  putting  out  of  the  question  alto- 
gether any  suggestion  that  a Church  of  England 
marriage  ceremony  is  essential  before  one  can  con- 
sider conjugal  relations  of  any  sort  to  be  of  a moral 
nature.  Under  such  conditions  I maintain  that 
while  the  men  of  Japan  are  probably  no  more  moral 
than  those  of  other  countries,  the  women  are  cer- 
tainly no  less  so,  and  in  many  respects  afford  an  ex- 
ample of  fidelity  and  domesticity  which  might  be 
followed  with  advantage  by  their  sisters  in  several 
highly  civilized  countries. 

And  yet  it  is  the  Japanese  woman  who  is  sin- 
gled out  by  the  foreign  writer  as  being  the  type 
of  everything  which  is  light,  frivolous,  and  im- 
moral. 

What  is  the  reason  of  the  repeated  and  cowardly 
attacks  on  the  character  of  the  women  of  Japan?  I 
can  find  but  one,  and  a lame  one  at  that.  It  must 
be  that  their  vilifiers  have  availed  themselves  fully 
of  the  opportunities  afforded  to  any  foreigner  to 
gloat  over  such  immorality  as  goes  on  in  that  coun- 
try, and  that  they  have  not  troubled  to  push  their 
studies  beyond  this  point.  Such  people  do  not  bear 
in  mind  that  much  of  the  vice  that  they  see  in  the 
treaty-ports  owes  its  initiative  to  the  foreigner,  that 
many  of  the  institutions  are  run  to  suit  his  tastes, 
and  are  not  to  be  met  with  in  Japan  proper.  De- 

118 


LADY  PLAYING  THE  KOTO 


-S 


THE  MORAL  STANDARD 


spite  this,  however,  they  are  all  debited  to  the  im- 
morality account  of  the  Japanese  nation. 

I do  not  know  of  a foreign  book  where  an  average 
Japanese  lady  has  been  portrayed  with  any  sem- 
blance of  realism,  unless  it  is  Miss  Bacon’s  Japanese 
Girls  and  Women.  The  most  widely  read  work  of 
fiction  purporting  to  throw  some  light  on  Japanese 
womanhood,  Pierre  Loti’s  Madame  Chrysantheme , 
has  for  heroine  a treaty  - port  unfortunate,  who, 
clothed  in  a threadbare  halo  of  romance,  is  palmed 
off  with  great  skill  on  the  unsuspecting  foreigner 
as  a fair  sample  of  the  Japanese  woman.  The 
heroine  of  the  well  - known  American  song  “ O 
Yuchesan  ” was  merely  a low-down  tea-house  girl. 

Even  the  man  who  has  never  been  in  Japan  at 
all  does  not  hesitate  to  tell  us  about  the  Japanese 
woman,  and  he  tells  us  she  is  frivolous  and  bad.  In 
so  saying  he  is  merely  plagiarizing  others  whose 
knowledge  is  about  on  a par  with  his  own  and 
who  have  held  forth  on  the  same  subject.  Yet 
it  is  on  standards  such  as  those  mentioned  above 
that  the  foreigner  at  home  forms  his  estimate  of  the 
Japanese  woman — he  has  no  other  to  go  on. 

In  analyzing  the  morality  of  Japan  one  must  ad- 
mit that  the  laws  of  the  country  allow  a man  to  do 
tolerably  well  what  he  pleases  in  this  respect,  and 
that  as  a rule  he  fully  avails  himself  of  this  privilege. 
Unlicensed  immorality  is  punishable,  and  severely 
punished,  as  far  as  the  woman  is  concerned,  but  the 
man  escapes  scot-free.  But  fathers  are  often  ex- 
tremely severe  in  the  bringing  up  of  their  sons,  and 

n9 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 

as  a rule  paternal  authority  is  far  stronger  in  Japan 
than  in  Europe.  Thus  there  are  undoubtedly  many 
Japanese  men  of  the  better  class  who  lead  pure  lives 
in  the  fullest  sense  of  the  word.  No  doubt  such  in- 
stances are  the  exception  rather  than  the  rule,  as  is 
perhaps  usually  the  case  elsewhere. 

There  is  a fallacious  notion  in  Britain  that  the 
Japanese  law  recognizes  polygamy,  or  at  all  events 
the  keeping  of  concubines;  such  is  not  the  case. 
The  law  takes  no  more  cognizance  of  the  mistress 
in  Japan  than  the  British  law  does,  but  Society  there 
accepts  her,  and,  while  her  children  are  no  less  ille- 
gitimate than  British  children  would  be  under  simi- 
lar circumstances,  the  conditions  of  life  in  Japan  are 
such  that  her  position  is  not  a degraded  one.  As  a 
matter  of  fact  she  usually  becomes  one  of  the  family; 
and,  owing  to  the  peculiar  system  of  adopting  chil- 
dren into  families  which  is  in  vogue  and  is  recog- 
nized by  the  law,  their  illegitimacy  can  be,  and  usu- 
ally is,  overcome. 

Family  ties  and  family  respectability  are  such 
strong  features  in  Japanese  life  that  even  the  wife 
will  do  all  in  her  power  to  keep  both  the  woman 
and  her  children  in  the  house,  the  former  becoming 
by  the  process  a part  of  the  household,  and  the  ma- 
ternal authority  over  the  latter  being  transferred  by 
adoption  to  the  wife.  In  these  circumstances  the 
standing  of  the  mekake , as  she  is  called,  is  a respect- 
able one,  and  from  a Japanese  point  of  view  there 
is  no  immorality  on  the  part  of  the  woman  accept- 
ing it. 


120 


AN  ACTOR  DRESSED  AS  A YOSHIWARA  WOMAN 


Photographed  by  Genroku-Kwan 


THE  MORAL  STANDARD 


With  the  Westernizing  of  the  country,  however, 
the  more  advanced  among  the  Japanese  are  begin- 
ning to  realize  that  the  mekake  is  no  longer  a lady 
to  be  paraded  openly  to  the  world,  and  there  is  no 
doubt  that  in  time  to  come  the  prestige  of  her  posi- 
tion will  diminish.  She  will  not  disappear,  but  we 
shall  see  and  hear  less  of  her,  and  possibly  the  ten- 
dency to  legitimize  her  children  will  decline.  I sup- 
pose that  we  Pharisaical  Westerners  should  find  a 
cause  of  joy  in  this,  for  we  shall  be  able  to  say  that 
the  Japanese  are  adopting  our  code  of  morals.  It  is 
true  that  the  effect  will  be  to  degrade  a class  of 
women  who  are  neither  immoral  nor  vicious  in  their 
instincts,  and  to  place  their  children  in  an  equivocal 
position.  “ Never  mind,”  we  shall  say,  “ the  Japan- 
ese are  at  last  becoming  civilized  and  moral.” 

Many  of  the  priests  have  mekake  as  well  as  wives, 
and,  though  this  is  not  considered  by  everybody  to 
be  quite  in  good  taste,  the  position  of  the  woman  is 
considered  an  honorable  one.  Thirty  years  ago, 
that  is  to  say,  until  the  abolition  of  the  Shogunate, 
priests  were  not  allowed  to  marry,  and  any  immo- 
rality on  their  part  in  Tokio  was  punishable  by  ex- 
posure to  the  insults  of  the  mob  in  the  streets,  bound, 
and  in  a state  of  nudity. 

To  account  for  the  wholesale  libelling  of  the  Jap- 
anese woman,  no  doubt  the  foreigner  before  arriving 
has  his  head  full  of  the  immorality  of  the  country, 
and  immediately  on  landing,  for  one  reason  or  an- 
other best  known  to  himself,  he  sets  about  to  verify 
personally  the  state  of  affairs.  He  cannot  speak  the 


I 2 I 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 


language,  so  he  takes  a guide.  The  first  question 
his  guide  asks  him  is  very  much  the  same  question 
that  a guide  would  ask  the  male  tourist  in  any  other 
country.  So  he  begins  his  rounds  of  the  treaty-port 
sights.  He  visits  certain  semi-foreign  tea-houses, 
sees  a geisha  performance  or  two,  and  perhaps  goes 
to  some  less  reputable  institutions.  Then  he  pro- 
ceeds to  Tokio,  and  visits  the  celebrated  Yoshi- 
wara. 

The  Yoshiwara,  of  which  a very  great  deal  has 
been  written,  is  at  once  a great  and,  to  the  student 
of  character,  an  intensely  interesting  institution.  It 
is  immoral  and  cruel ; and  briefly  may  be  described 
as  the  ideal  working  out  to  their  logical  end,  and  in 
a practical  form,  of  the  theories  of  those  who  advo- 
cate the  State  regulation  of  vice.  I have  no  wish 
to  dwell  on  the  Yoshiwara  here.  The  two  best 
descriptions  of  this  institution  are  to  be  found  in 
Chamberlain’s  Things  Japanese  and  Norman’s  The 
Real  Japan . The  latter,  however,  is  somewhat  sen- 
sationally written,  and  the  author  makes  the  mis- 
take of  describing  it  as  a “ secret  institution,” 
whereas,  in  reality,  there  is  no  secrecy  whatever 
about  it.  It  is  glaring  and  obvious  to  the  newest 
comer,  and  any  journalist  who  may  find  it  advisable 
to  inform  himself  as  to  the  inner  workings  of  its  or- 
ganization will  have  less  difficulty  in  doing  so  than 
with  almost  any  other  Government  institution  in 
Japan.  It  is,  in  fact,  because  the  Yoshiwara  and 
the  kindred  establishments  in  the  treaty- ports  can 
be  easily  seen  that  the  immorality  of  the  Japanese 


122 


TREATY-PORT  GIRLS 


THE  MORAL  STANDARD 


as  a nation  is  so  often  grossly  exaggerated  and 
misconstrued. 

Glaring  and  obvious,  cruel  and  immoral  as  these 
licensed  institutions  may  be,  they  are,  however,  all 
restricted  to  certain  quarters  in  the  various  towns, 
and  there  is  no  occasion  whatever  for  any  foreigner 
to  visit  them  or  to  see  anything  of  them  unless  he 
may  wish  to  do  so. 

However,  the  foreigner  sees  them,  goes  out  of  his 
way  to  see  them,  and  is  righteously  shocked.  Nor 
does  he  trouble  to  ask  himself  if  there  are  not  in- 
stitutions in  his  own  country,  legal  or  otherwise, 
which  are  far  more  degraded  and  degrading  than 
the  Tokio  Yoshiwara. 

He  has  heard  over  and  over  again  that  Japanese 
ladies  and  gentlemen  are  in  the  habit  of  selling  their 
children  to  this  and  kindred  institutions,  and  that 
a girl  who  takes  service  in  these  places  suffers  no 
degradation  in  the  eyes  of  her  compatriots  by  so 
doing.  We  Europeans  consider  the  Chinese  to  be 
very  ignorant  because  they  believe  that  we  are  in 
the  habit  of  gouging  out  and  eating  the  eyes  of  their 
children  when  we  get  a chance,  though  these  rumors 
are  merely  propagated  by  the  official  classes  in  the 
Celestial  Empire  in  order  to  foster  and  maintain  the 
hatred  of  the  masses  against  the  “ foreign  devil.” 

But  we  are  equally  simple-minded  in  many  of  the 
weird  and  fallacious  beliefs  we  hold  with  regard  to 
Japanese  customs,  and  especially  with  regard  to  inter- 
sexual  relations  in  Japan. 

Well,  after  visiting  the  Yoshiwara  the  outraged 

123 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 


foreigner  has  seen  enough  to  prove  to  him  that  Jap- 
anese women  are  immoral,  and  that  is  all  he  wants. 
No;  not  quite  all.  He  has  heard  how  easy  it  is  to 
contract  a “ Japanese  marriage,”  and  he  has  read  in 
certain  imaginative  journals  some  strangely  romantic 
rhapsodies  on  the  Japanese  lady.  What  has  he 
read  ? Assuredly  not  that  she  is  a good  daughter, 
a loving  mother,  a faithful  and  domesticated  wife, 
and  one  who  within  the  narrow  limits  of  Japanese 
customs  has  been  carefully  educated.  Nor  has  he 
read  that  she  is  invariably  dignified  and  lady-like, 
nor  that  her  instincts  are  wholesome,  womanly,  and 
pure.  That  would  have  been  a plain  statement  of 
facts.  What  he  has  been  told  is  that  she  is  a species 
of  quaint  plaything,  a giggling  sort  of  doll,  with 
butterfly  proclivities;  that  she  waddles  when  she 
walks,  always  smokes  a pipe,  and  plays  the  sami- 
sen;  a being  without  education,  without  intelligence, 
without  feelings,  and,  above  all,  without  morality. 

So,  with  the  assistance  of  his  guide,  the  globe- 
trotter is  introduced  to  a “ lady  ” who  has  a “ daugh- 
ter” who  is  ready  to  become  his  “Japanese  wife.” 
She  is  said  to  be  “ of  the  samurai  class,”  and  though 
the  foreigner  does  not  know  what  that  means,  he 
has  a vague  notion  that  it  is  in  some  sort  a voucher 
of  respectability,  and  the  “ marriage  ” is  effected. 
The  foreigner  may  be  excused  for  thinking  that  his 
companion  is  a lady,  for  her  manners  from  begin- 
ning to  end  will  be  lady-like  and  modest,  whatever 
her  station  in  life  may  have  been.  Now  the  chances 
are  that  she,  poor  girl,  even  she,  loathing  her  posi- 

124 


PONTA,  A TOKIO  GEISHA 


Photographed  by  Genroku-Kwan 


THE  MORAL  STANDARD 


tion  as  she  does,  will  be  faithful  to  her  temporary 
“ husband,”  until  such  time  as  he  discards  her  and 
leaves  the  country.  And  then,  no  doubt,  her  fate 
will  be  to  be  forced  to  repeat  the  process  with  the 
next  foreign  applicant  for  bogus  matrimonial  experi- 
ment. 

It  is  from  this  class  of  union  that  the  globe-trotter 
draws  his  conclusions  as  to  the  morality  of  Japanese 
women.  And  if  one  takes  into  consideration  the 
conditions  under  which  such  contracts  are  made,  one 
can  hardly  with  fairness  lay  the  accusation  of  im- 
morality wholly  on  the  shoulders  of  the  unfortunate 
victim  of  the  transaction,  who,  perhaps,  after  all,  was 
the  only  party  to  the  contract  who  had  any  just  claim 
to  the  possession  of  moral  instincts. 

Turning  from  the  shallow  burlesque  of  matrimonial 
relationship  above  explained  to  the  more  serious  im- 
itations of  the  real  thing,  that  is  to  say,  the  cases  where 
Europeans  have  for  years  lived  with  Japanese  women, 
infidelity  on  the  part  of  the  woman  is  admittedly 
rare ; while  I understand  that  the  bona  fide  inter-racial 
marriages  offer  hardly  any  instance  of  female  infidel- 
ity. If  such  is  the  case,  what  must  be  the  result  in 
purely  Japanese  menages?  In  these  a husband  may, 
and  often  does,  divorce  his  wife.  But  divorce  in 
Japan  is  not  based  on  infidelity,  but  on  convenience, 
and  Japanese  marriages — I mean  real  marriages — 
afford  an  example  of  female  virtue  which  is  far  above 
the  standard  of  that  in  many  more  civilized  countries. 

Conjugal  infidelity,  so  far  as  the  woman  is  con- 
cerned, carries  as  great  a stigma  in  Japan  as  it  does 

I2S 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 


in  England.  In  fact,  if  the  husband  is  unfaithful 
the  blame  often  attaches  to  the  wife,  who  has  not 
known  how  to  make  him  happy  at  home.  Nor  is  the 
virtue  of  the  married  women  in  Japan  insured  by 
shutting  them  up  as  in  Mohammedan  and  various 
other  countries.  The  freedom  of  intercourse  between 
the  sexes  is  perhaps  not  quite  so  unrestrained  as  in 
Britain,  but  it  is  certainly  more  so  than  in  countries 
like  Spain,  Italy,  or  South  America. 

Whatever  may  be  the  real  state  of  the  morality 
of  the  Japanese,  we  should  bear  in  mind  that,  while 
we  criticise  their  doings  in  a wholesale  and  brutal 
manner,  and  often  without  any  real  knowledge  of  the 
subject,  they,  on  their  part,  as  a rule,  adopt  a mod- 
erate and  inoffensive  tone  in  referring  to  our  failings 
in  this  way. 

Japanese  morality  may  not  be  based  altogether  on 
the  same  principles  as  our  own,  and  no  doubt  some 
of  us  may  claim  that  occasionally  the  methods  in 
vogue  in  that  country  shock  our  feelings.  But  in 
justice  to  them,  before  criticising  them  in  a hostile 
manner,  we  ought  to  ask  ourselves  whether  we  are 
not  mistaking  a frank  and  clearly  defined  policy  in 
dealing  with  what  we  are  wont  to  describe  as  “ the 
social  evil”  for  an  innate  viciousness  of  character; 
whether  what  we  habitually  lay  to  the  account  of  the 
immorality  of  the  Japanese  woman  would  not  be 
more  accurately  described  as  the  immorality  of  the 
foreign  man ; and  finally  whether,  in  holding  up  the 
Westerner  as  a model  of  morality  for  the  Japanese 
to  copy,  we  are  not  clamoring  less  for  an  actual  de- 

126 


THE  MORAL  STANDARD 


crease  in  Japanese  immorality  than  for  an  increase 
in  hypocrisy  to  cover  whatever  immorality  there 
may  be. 

Above  all,  let  us  leave  the  character  of  the  Japanese 
woman  alone  unless  we  have  had  a better  oppor- 
tunity of  judging  her  than  is  afforded  by  a superficial 
study  of  the  tea-house  girl,  the  third-rate  geisha,  and 
their  sister  of  a lower  grade  still. 


CHAPTER  VIII 


THE  COMMERCIAL  INTEGRITY  OF  THE  JAPANESE 

It  is  to  be  presumed  that,  as  a rule,  the  business 
visitor  to  Japan  has  made  some  attempt  to  study  his 
subject  more  or  less  before  he  leaves  his  country. 
He  has,  no  doubt,  read  some  of  the  import  and  ex- 
port returns  relating  to  Japan.  He  may  have  also 
visited  some  of  the  merchants  in  his  own  country 
who  habitually  deal  with  Japan.  Possibly,  too,  he 
has  had  a talk  with  business  men  who  have  been 
out  to  that  country  on  similar  errands  before  him. 

But  the  result  of  all  these  inquiries  will  be  to  leave 
him  in  a state  of  mind  which  will  be  worse,  as  far 
as  complication  of  impressions  is  concerned,  than 
the  first. 

The  consular  reports  will  afford  him  conclusive 
proof  that  business,  a large  and  increasing  business, 
is  being  done  with  Japan.  The  London  merchant, 
while  confirming  that  fact,  will  add  that,  while  it 
may  be  just  as  well  for  him  to  go  out  to  see  for  him- 
self how  the  trade  is  done,  he  would  strongly  advise 
him  to  fight  shy  of  dealing  direct  with  the  Japanese, 
for  their  business  methods  are  strange. 

The  business  man  who  has  previously  visited 
Japan  will  endorse  and  emphasize  the  opinion  of 

128 


COMMERCIAL  INTEGRITY 


the  merchant.  He  will  say  that  the  Japanese  in 
business  are  devoid  of  integrity. 

The  man  inquiring  will,  no  doubt,  ask  his  inform- 
ant, “ Did  the  Japanese  ever  impose  upon  you  when 
you  were  out  there  ?” 

“ Oh  no,”  will  be  the  reply,  “ for  the  simple  reason 
that  I did  not  give  them  the  chance.” 

“ I suppose,  then,  that  your  people  do  not  do 
much  business  with  Japan?” 

“Yes,  they  do;  and  a very  large  business.” 

“ Then  how  is  the  trade  worked  ? There  must 
be  some  foreigners  who  deal  with  the  Japanese 
direct,  and  it  is  to  be  presumed  that  the  Japanese 
must  pay  such  people  occasionally,  as  otherwise 
these  transactions  would  soon  cease  ?” 

“ Oh,  we  receive  our  payments  from  the  mer- 
chants in  England.’' 

“ Do  you  refer  to  the  Japanese  merchants  in  Lon- 
don, or  to  English  firms  ?” 

“ Sometimes  we  are  paid  by  one,  and  sometimes 
by  the  other.” 

“And  do  you  have  much  trouble  with  the  Japan- 
ese merchants  ?” 

“ Occasionally  they  are  rather  fidgety  about  the 
wording  of  contracts  and  about  inspection ; but 
they  pay  promptly.  In  fact,  as  far  as  carrying  on 
a business  transaction  is  concerned,  they  certainly 
give  us  no  more  real  trouble  than  do  the  English 
merchants,  and  our  monetary  transactions  with  them 
are  quite  as  safe.” 

“Then  your  verdict  is  that  the  Japanese  traders 

129 


1 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 

in  England  are  honest,  and  those  out  there  are  dis- 
honest ?” 

“ My  dear  fellow,  go  and  see  for  yourself.  Talk 
to  the  Yokohama  and  Kobe  people  who  deal  with 
them.  They  will  tell  you  all  about  the  matter.” 

The  somewhat  puzzled  business  man  goes  to 
Japan  and  talks  to  the  treaty-port  people.  He  is 
told  that  the  Japanese  are  all  dishonest;  that  they 
repudiate  their  contracts ; that  they  will  put  him  to 
no  end  of  trouble  in  getting  him  to  give  them 
estimates  and  particulars ; that  they  will,  generally 
speaking,  suck  his  brains ; and  that,  if  he  is  unfort- 
unate enough  to  receive  an  order  from  them,  they 
will  certainly  have  no  intention  of  paying  for  the 
goods  when  they  have  been  delivered.  That,  in  a 
few  words,  is  the  gist  of  the  treaty-port  opinion  of 
Japanese  business  morality. 

If  the  new-comer  should  require  further  confirma- 
tion on  the  subject,  he  has  only  to  open  one  or  other 
of  the  treaty-port  papers,  and  he  can  in  almost  any 
of  them  read  the  same  line  of  argument  propounded 
day  by  day  throughout  the  year.  Almost  alone 
among  these  newspapers  to  take  a different  stand- 
point is  the  Japan  Mail \ which,  though  it  some- 
times criticises  Japanese  methods,  does  not  adopt 
the  same  generally  condemnatory  tone. 

It  is  necessary  to  emphasize  the  treaty-port  opin- 
ion of  Japanese  business  methods  here  because  it 
was  the  treaty -port  foreigner,  in  times  gone  by  at 
all  events,  who  bore  the  brunt  of  direct  business 
contact  with  the  Japanese.  If  our  manufacturers 

130 


COMMERCIAL  INTEGRITY 


at  home  have,  during  all  these  years,  carried  on  a 
satisfactory  business  with  the  Japanese  through  his 
intermediation,  then  every  credit  is  due  to  him  for 
sticking  to  his  post  under  such  unsatisfactory  cir- 
cumstances. In  fact,  it  would  seem  that,  by  taking 
the  risk  of  such  transactions  off  the  shoulders  of 
our  manufacturers,  he  has  been  almost  heroic  in 
organizing  and  maintaining  the  trade  between  Japan 
and  the  outer  world. 

Every  credit,  therefore,  is  due  to  him  for  having 
done  this,  and  his  opinions  on  the  subject  of  Jap- 
anese business  methods  demand  a great  deal  of  re- 
spect and  consideration. 

There  is  no  doubt,  however,  that  the  treaty-port 
people  in  Japan  have  rather  got  into  a habit  of  un- 
duly bewailing  their  lot,  partially,  no  doubt,  because 
they  are  unaware  of,  or  have  forgotten,  the  fact  that 
in  most  other  countries  our  traders  have,  as  a rule, 
to  face  quite  as  many  and  as  serious  business  diffi- 
culties, although  the  nature  of  such  difficulties  varies 
with  varying  circumstances. 

The  foreign  trader  in  Japan  is  often  wont  to  re- 
gret the  fact  that  he  is  not  in  China,  for  he  main- 
tains that  the  Chinese  are  conscientious  and  ideal 
traders.  It  has  become  proverbial  that,  as  traders, 
the  Chinese  are  honest,  and  that  the  Japanese  are  not ; 
and  no  doubt  on  the  face  of  things  it  would  appear 
that  such  was  the  case.  But  we  must  not  lose  sight 
of  the  fact  that  the  conditions  of  trade  between  the 
foreigner  and  the  Japanese  are  not  in  the  least  sim- 
ilar to  those  in  vogue  between  the  foreigner  and  the 

131 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 


Chinese.  It  is  urged,  on  the  one  hand,  that  a China- 
man’s business  word  is  as  good  as  his  bond,  and  that 
both  are  good  ; whereas  it  is  said,' on  the  other,  that 
the  bond  of  a Japanese  trader  is  as  worthless  as  his 
word  in  his  dealings  with  a foreigner;  for  it  is  al- 
leged that,  while  he  does  not  hesitate  to  break  a ver- 
bal contract,  he  looks  upon  any  written  document 
as  a mere  empty  formality.  Certain  it  is  that  such 
document  will  be  practically  worthless  in  assisting 
the  foreigner  to  recoup  himself  legally. 

The  intricacies  of  the  Chinese  character  have  been 
very  ably  dealt  with  in  Colquhoun’s  recent  work, 
China  in  Transformation ; and  to  those  who  wish 
to  study  that  subject  I would  recommend  a perusal 
of  that  work. 

Suffice  it  for  me  to  say  that,  if  the  Chinese  are 
honest  in  business,  it  is  the  only  sphere  of  honesty 
in  which  they  excel.  It  is  generally  admitted  that 
official  and  high-class  Chinamen  are  dishonest  in 
their  politics  and  their  administration.  With  them 
bribery,  corruption,  extortion,  and  every  other  com- 
mercial vice  are  accentuated  to  an  extreme  degree, 
and  it  is  certain  that  there  is  a no  more  accom- 
plished and  persistent  thief  in  the  world  than  the 
lower-class  Chinaman. 

Then  how  is  it  that  the  Chinese  trader  who  deals 
with  the  treaty-port  foreigner  turns  out  to  be  an 
ideal  of  all  that  is  honorable  in  business  matters, 
as  we  are  so  often  told  ? The  simple  answer  to  this 
question  is,  that  until  now  the  Chinaman  has  been 
absolutely  in  the  foreigner’s  hands. 

132 


COMMERCIAL  INTEGRITY 


The  Chinaman  who  makes  his  money  in  a treaty- 
port  has  no  greater  fear  than  that  of  having  to  take 
his  capital  and  his  business  into  China  proper.  He 
knows  perfectly  well  that,  if  he  makes  money  and 
establishes  himself  outside  concession  limits,  he  will 
promptly  be  robbed  of  his  wealth  by  the  mandarin 
and  other  local  officials.  Consequently  he  starts  his 
shop  or  his  factory  and  invests  his  capital  in  the 
treaty -port,  where  he  will  be  free  to  make  as  much 
money  as  he  likes  without  molestation  as  long  as 
he  conforms  to  the  ordinary  business  routine.  His 
honesty  may  therefore  be  said  to  be  an  honesty 
which  is  bred  from  force  of  circumstances ; for,  if 
he  were  to  make  the  treaty-port  too  hot  to  hold  him, 
the  chances  are  he  would  be  a ruined  man. 

Such  a state  of  things  does  not,  however,  hold 
good  in  Japan,  for  the  Japanese  establishes  his  busi- 
ness in  the  interior  in  most  cases,  and  only  carries 
it  on  in  a treaty-port  when  he  finds  it  handy  for  his 
trade  to  do  so.  The  Japanese  trader  has  no  fear  of 
being  robbed  either  by  his  Government  or  by  the 
servants  of  the  Government.  And  the  dishonest 
trader  is  perfectly  aware  that  he  is  practically  be- 
yond the  reach  of  the  foreign  creditor  when  he  is 
outside  treaty-port  limits.  Consequently  an  unscru- 
pulous Japanese  in  the  interior  has  great  scope  for 
imposing  on  the  foreigner,  if  he  wishes  to  do  so, 
provided  he  can  persuade  such  a man  to  deliver  the 
goods  beyond  treaty  limits  on  credit ; for,  whatever 
the  law  may  be,  in  practice  it  turns  out  that,  by 
the  very  fact  of  the  goods  in  question  leaving  the 

i33 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 

treaty- port,  the  foreigner  loses  all  legal  hold  on 
them. 

It  is  true  that  if  a foreigner  who  has  been  imposed 
upon  by  a Japanese  in  this  manner  can  get  hold  of 
him,  he  has  a right  to  sue  him  before  a Japanese 
tribunal,  and  when  this  is  done  he  often  wins  his 
case.  But  a dishonest  defendant  under  such  cir- 
cumstances merely  has  to  keep  out  of  the  way  for 
a time. 

Until  recently,  too,  the  Japanese  law  was  of  a 
nature  to  give  the  dishonest  native  dealer  who  had 
been  sued  and  had  lost  his  case  a further  very  easy 
loophole  of  escape ; as,  by  a simple  process,  he  could 
transfer  in  a nominal  manner  all  his  property  to  a 
friend  at  short  notice.  Such  a friend  had  merely 
to  hold  the  property  in  question  until  the  foreign 
claimant  had  grown  tired  of  claiming  in  vain,  and 
so  the  affair  would  blow  over  in  course  of  time. 

This  law  has,  however,  been  materially  modified 
and  improved  lately;  and,  consequently,  if  the  Jap- 
anese tribunal  before  which  the  case  comes  is  a com- 
petent and  just  one,  the  chances  of  the  foreigner  in 
dealing  with  a doubtful  Japanese  customer  can  be 
said  to  be  materially  better  than  was  the  case  a few 
years  ago. 

With  regard  to  the  justice  to  be  expected  from  a 
Japanese  court,  I quote  below  from  the  Japan  Mail 
the  results  of  the  law-suits  in  Yokohama  which  oc- 
curred during  the  six  years  ending  in  1896,  in  which 
foreign  plaintiffs  sued  Japanese  defendants  before 
a purely  Japanese  tribunal.  In  all  there  were 

*34 


COMMERCIAL  INTEGRITY 


106  law-suits,  and  they  resulted  in  the  following 
manner: 


Given  in  favor  of  the  foreign  plaintiff 36 

Given  in  favor  of  the  Japanese  defendant . ...  20 

Given  partly  in  favor  of  plaintiff  and  partly  in 

favor  of  defendant 8 

Compromised 2 

Nonsuited 1 

Withdrawn  (presumably  settled  out  of  Court)  . . 34 

Not  yet  settled 5 

Total 106 


Out  of  the  twenty  cases  in  which  the  Japanese 
defendants  won  the  day,  five  of  the  actions  were 
brought  by  Chinese  subjects  and  two  of  the  cases 
were  practically  identical,  so  that,  as  far  as  white,  or 
civilized,  plaintiffs  are  concerned,  out  of  fifty  cases 
in  which  a definite  verdict  was  given  for  one  side 
or  the  other,  the  foreign  plaintiff  gained  thirty-six 
and  the  Japanese  defendant  fourteen.  From  this  it 
would  not  seem  that  the  foreigners  have  a great 
deal  to  fear  from  Japanese  law,  and,  at  all  events, 
they  will  be  better  off  under  it  than  they  are  in 
many  other  countries  where  extra-territorial  rights 
have  never  existed. 

But  there  is  a circumstance  which  must  be  taken 
to  materially  detract  from  the  somewhat  rosy  picture 
drawn  by  this  schedule;  and  that  is  that,  owing  to 
the  above-referred-to  difficulty  of  putting  one’s  hand 
on  a defendant  after  a verdict  had  gone  against  him, 
many  foreigners  who  would  otherwise  have  sued  did 
not  bring  actions  at  all,  feeling  that  by  so  doing 
they  would  be  merely  throwing  good  money  after 

I35 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 


bad,  even  if  they  were  to  gain  their  case.  Matters, 
however,  are  better  than  this  to-day,  as  Japan  already 
possesses  a legal  code  which  in  most  respects  com- 
pares favorably  for  equity  with  that  of  almost  any 
other  country,  and  year  by  year  the  Government  are 
improving  their  methods  of  enforcing  their  laws 
effectively. 

Political  and  administrative  integrity  in  Japan  is 
undoubtedly  high.  It  is  not,  of  course,  ideal,  but, 
comparing  Japan  with  many  countries  whose  civili- 
zation has  been  brought  about  by  the  slow  growth 
of  ages,  the  methods  of  her  politicians  and  statesmen 
are  less  open  to  reproach  than  those  of  half  the 
countries  in  Europe,  to  say  nothing  of  those  of  the 
Western  hemisphere.  Again,  the  lower  classes,  the 
smaller  tradesmen,  servants,  and  so  on,  with  the  ex- 
ception, perhaps,  of  those  in  and  near  treaty-ports, 
are,  as  such  people  go  in  other  countries,  distinctly 
honest.  To  account  for  the  alleged  dishonesty  of 
the  Japanese  in  their  dealings  with  the  local  foreigner, 
we  must  remember  that  as  a nation  they  have  until 
quite  recently  been  a fighting,  an  artistic,  and  an 
agricultural  rather  than  a trading  people,  as  we  under- 
stand the  word.  In  Japan,  not  so  long  ago,  a trader 
was  a person  to  be  treated  with  contempt;  and, 
when  a certain  class  is  habitually  looked  down  upon 
in  any  .country,  that  fact  is  not  at  all  conducive  to  a 
high  code  of  morals  in  the  methods  of  the  men  of 
that  particular  class. 

Again,  recognized  authorities  on  Japanese  char- 
acter maintain  that  one  of  its  strongest  traits  is  an 

136 


COMMERCIAL  INTEGRITY 


instinct  and  capacity  for  intrigue.  Such  being  the 
case,  it  may  be  presumed  that,  now  that  modern 
business  is  conducted  by  educated  Japanese,  this 
spirit  of  intrigue  has  been  brought  to  bear,  often 
quite  unnecessarily,  in  their  business  methods.  This 
may  account  for  some  of  the  alleged  want  of  busi- 
ness integrity  in  the  nation. 

Another  undoubted  reason  may  be  found  in  the 
fact  that,  rightly  or  wrongly,  many  of  the  Japanese 
in  their  rapidly  acquired  Western  knowledge  have 
jumped  to  the  conclusion  that  modern  business  is 
based  on  sharp  practice ; and  it  must  be  admitted 
that  they  have  every  excuse  for  having  fallen  into 
such  an  error.  The  Japanese  of  the  present  day 
follow  the  current  literature  of  Europe  and  America 
very  closely,  and  they  can  see  enough  in  the  journals 
of  many  civilized  countries  to  convince  them  that 
colossal  financial  and  commercial  swindles  are  in 
many  well-known  centres  quite  the  order  of  the  day. 
Then,  again,  in  their  dealings  with  the  foreigner  it 
has  not  always  been  the  latter  who  has  been  the 
honest  man  in  the  transaction;  and  while,  as  a rule, 
the  Japanese  have  been  as  well  served  as  one  could 
expect,  they  have  undoubtedly  from  time  to  time  in- 
dividually and  collectively  been  robbed  by  some  of 
the  people  from  whom  they  have  acquired  their  im- 
pressions of  Western  business  methods. 

Of  Japanese  intrigue  in  business  many  forcible 
instances  came  within  my  personal  knowledge  while 
I was  studying  industrial  matters  out  there.  One 
of  these,  which  gives  a very  good  idea  of  the  com- 

I37 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 

plicated  methods  sometimes  adopted  by  them  to 
secure  unexpected  ends,  I give  as  a representative 
case.  It  was  part  of  my  duty,  when  writing  on  en- 
gineering subjects,  to  inquire  into  the  reason  why 
certain  large  Government  contracts  of  a kind  which 
had  hitherto  been  habitually  placed  in  England  had 
suddenly  been  given  to  another  country,  which  coun- 
try we  will  call  “ X.”  It  is  true  that  time  of  delivery 
was  in  favor  of  the  country  X,  as  the  big  engineers’ 
strike  of  1897  was  going  on  in  England  at  the  time; 
but  this  consideration,  though  weighty,  was  not  quite 
sufficient  in  itself  to  account  for  the  sudden  and  com- 
plete change  of  market.  The  English  firm  was  rep- 
resented by  a powerful  Japanese  merchant  who  could 
usually  get  these  contracts  when  he  wanted  them, 
and  the  competing  maker  in  X had  a peculiarly 
sharp  representative  specially  living  in  Japan  for  the 
time  being.  His  firm  had  given  him  instructions  to 
do  absolutely  everything  that  was  necessary  to  ob- 
tain orders,  even  to  underquote  when  advisable. 
The  great  difficulty  was  to  find  out  what  other  peo- 
ple were  quoting,  as  the  tenders  were  dealt  with  in 
the  usual  formal  manner.  By  judicious  bribery  and 
corruption,  however,  the  smart  agent  suborned  an 
employe  of  the  Japanese  merchant  firm  to  give  him 
the  above  information,  and  consequently  he  was  al- 
ways able  to  place  his  quotation  slightly  below  theirs, 
which  resulted  in  his  getting  all  the  orders.  But 
the  interesting  part  of  it  all  was  that  the  Japanese 
merchants,  knowing  that  they  could  not  get  a reason- 
able quotation,  for  delivery  from  England  just  then, 

138 


COMMERCIAL  INTEGRITY 


did  not  wish  to  receive  these  orders.  But  not  wish- 
ing to  offend  the  Government  by  refusing  to  quote, 
and  not  wanting  a competitor  to  make  money  on  the 
transaction,  they  had  instructed  their  employe  to  be 
suborned,  and  to  mention  to  the  enterprising  agent 
a price  very  far  below  that  which  they  would  have 
quoted,  if  they  had  not  known  that  he  would  go  a 
little  lower  than  the  figure  they  named.  So  the 
trade  of  the  country  X was  extended,  and  this  was 
duly  notified  with  becoming  gravity  in  the  consular 
reports.  British  trade  had  suffered,  and  the  manu- 
facturer of  X lost  heavily  on  all  these  contracts.  But 
the  enterprising  agent  presumably  received  his  com- 
mission from  the  firm  in  X,  and  the  money  he  paid 
with  the  notion  that  he  was  bribing  a Japanese  em- 
ploye presumably  found  its  way  into  the  pockets  of 
the  competing  Japanese  merchant  firm. 

It  is  difficult  to  point  a moral  from  the  above  his- 
tory. Who  was  the  honest  man,  and  who  was  the 
villain  of  the  piece,  in  this  transaction  ? Did  virtue 
triumph  in  the  last  Act  or  not  ? If  there  was  any 
virtue  about  it,  I am  inclined  to  think  it  did.  For 
the  English  firm  could  not  have  completed  the  con- 
tracts if  they  had  got  them  at  that  time ; the  Japanese 
merchant  and  the  foreign  agent  both  exercised  much 
ingenuity, and  were  both  rewarded  pecuniarily;  while 
the  firm  in  X lost  no  end  of  money  over  these  con- 
tracts for  the  sake  of  the  honor  and  glory  of  ousting 
the  British  from  a regular  market.  Perhaps  they 
too,  in  the  long-run,  will  get  their  reward. 

Whatever  the  experience  of  the  local  business 

139 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 


foreigner  may  be,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the 
Japanese  have,  as  a nation,  a stringent  and  binding, 
though  possibly  from  our  point  of  view  an  inexpli- 
cable, code  of  honor.  Our  ablest  authorities  on  mat- 
ters Japanese  are  agreed  upon  that  fact.  The  elab- 
orate system  of  formal  suicide  (now  abolished)  in 
cases  where  men  had  violated  that  code — though 
looked  at  from  a European  point  of  view  as  a very 
barbarous  proceeding — is  in  itself  enough  to  make 
clear  the  existence  of  a strong  sense  of  honor.  There 
is  no  occasion  for  me  to  endeavor  to  elaborate  the  de- 
tails of  that  code  in  these  pages,  as  Mitford,  Hearne, 
Chamberlain,  and  others  have  made  this  matter 
abundantly  clear. 

Honor,  however,  is  not  at  the  present  day  ab- 
solutely synonymous  with  business  honesty,  and  in 
judging  how  far  it  may  be  considered  to  be  so,  even 
in  the  countries  which  are  accredited  with  the  great- 
est share  of  enlightenment,  we  should  not  lose  sight 
of  the  fact  that  there  are  many  highly  “ respectable” 
and  nominally  virtuous  men,  who  would  be  extremely 
disconcerted  if  they  were  told  that  they  were  dis- 
honorable because,  in  carrying  on  their  successful 
business,  they  considered  themselves  honest  merely 
on  the  strength  of  their  having  habitually  kept  just 
inside  the  bare  letter  of  the  law. 

The  go-as-you-please  arrangements  which  in  the 
old  days  existed  between  the  purchaser  and  the 
seller  in  Japan — that  is  to  say,  the  absence  in  their 
negotiations  of  what  we  should  describe  as  a hard 
and  fast  bargain — do  not  at  all  lend  themselves  to 


140 


COMMERCIAL  INTEGRITY 


modem  business.  This  was  all  very  well  in  trans- 
actions relating  to  local  produce,  and  where  both 
parties  to  the  contract  were  Japanese,  and  each 
understood  the  standing  and  methods  of  the  other; 
but  it  is  quite  another  matter  in  international  com- 
merce. 

A Japanese,  it  is  maintained,  and  sometimes  per- 
fectly  justly,  does  not  understand  the  binding  nature 
of  a modern  business  contract,  nor  has  he  grasped 
the  fact  that  there  is,  or  at  all  events  should  be,  a 
certain  standard  of  honor  in  international  commer- 
cial life,  even  if  such  a virtue  be  prompted  by  a 
no  higher  motive  than  that  which  gave  birth  to 
our  well  - worn  proverb,  “ Honesty  is  the  best  pol- 
icy.” 

I am  bound  to  say  that  I do  not  think  that  the 
Japanese,  in  their  transactions  between  each  other, 
are  more  dishonest  than  the  people  of  other  nations, 
nor  do  I think  that  the  shop-keeping  class,  even  in 
dealing  with  the  foreigner,  are  nearly  as  unscrupu- 
lous as  is  usually  the  case  elsewhere.  It  is,  however, 
the  man  who  carries  on  the  larger  negotiations,  more 
particularly  with  regard  to  ordering  goods  from 
abroad,  of  whom  the  greatest  complaints  are  made. 
And  even  here  I believe  that  most  of  the  unsatis- 
factory transactions  have  been  due  to  a misunder- 
standing on  both  sides,  rather  than  to  a want  of 
honesty  on  either  side. 

We  must  bear  in  mind,  on  the  one  hand,  that  the 
foreign  treaty-port  trader  neither  reads  nor  writes 
Japanese,  and  that,  with  rare  exceptions,  he  does 


14 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 


not  even  speak  the  language  sufficiently  well  to 
carry  on  an  intricate  negotiation  satisfactorily ; and, 
on  the  other,  that  the  Japanese  purchaser  has  not 
always  been  able  to  know  whether  he  was  applying 
to  a specialist  in  a particular  line  or  not,  and  that  he 
often  did  not  know  what  he  was  purchasing.  The 
result  is  that  both  parties  have  been  in  the  hands 
of  a Japanese  business  tout,  who  might  or  might 
not  be  an  honest  man,  and  who  might  or  might 
not  be  a capable  man,  if  he  happened  to  be  honest. 
These  facts,  more  than  any  other,  have  been  re- 
sponsible for  the  wide-spread  impression  as  to  the 
general  want  of  integrity  among  Japanese  business 
men.  But  while  such  drawbacks  to  trading  on  an 
intelligent  basis  exist,  one  cannot  be  in  the  least 
surprised  that  international  business  is  muddled, 
and  that  the  local  foreign  trader,  who  brought  out 
expensive  shipments  of  goods  on  what  he  believed 
to  be  a definite  order,  has  sometimes  been  dis- 
heartened. 

Nor  is  it  the  least  surprising,  under  the  circum- 
stances, that,  apart  from  the  question  of  the  ardent 
nationalist  instinct,  which  is  so  prominent  a trait 
in  the  Japanese  character,  the  native  firms,  whose 
members  have  during  recent  years  been  thoroughly 
educated  abroad  in  Western  languages  and  business 
methods,  should  do  all  they  can  to  oust  the  local 
foreigner,  and  to  conduct  the  international  trade 
of  their  own  country  themselves,  even  when  they 
cannot  always  do  it  satisfactorily.  Such  firms  have 
not  yet  reached  by  any  means  perfection  in  such 

142 


COMMERCIAL  INTEGRITY 


dealings,  but  no  one  will  accuse  the  better  ones 
among  them  of  repudiating  their  contracts  with  the 
foreigner  or  of  not  meeting  their  pecuniary  liabili- 
ties. In  fact,  it  is  safe  to  say  that  at  the  present 
day  European  manufacturers  are  just  as  willing  to 
receive  their  orders  for  Japan  through  one  or  other 
of  the  recognized  Japanese  merchant  firms  as  they 
are  through  firms  in  the  hands  of  their  own  com- 
patriots. Whether  the  Japanese  user  will  be  as 
well  served  under  such  circumstances  as  in  the  past 
is  a different  matter,  and  one  on  which  opinions 
naturally  differ. 

The  local  business  foreigner  has  undoubtedly  a 
very  great  deal  to  complain  of,  and  will  be  increas- 
ingly hampered  as  time  goes  on  in  conducting  his 
business  in  Japan,  for  he  is  unfairly  handicapped  in 
many  ways,  as  I have  endeavored  to  point  out  in 
another  chapter. 

But  his  difficulties  are  not  so  much  due  to  the 
business  dishonesty  of  the  Japanese  traders  of  the 
present  day,  as  to  the  unfair  conditions  surrounding 
foreign  trade  in  that  country. 

To  sum  matters  up:  The  Japanese  code  of  busi- 
ness morality  differs  in  many  respects  essentially 
from  our  own,  and,  in  default  of  understanding  each 
other’s  methods,  each  party  has  considered  that  he 
has  been  imposed  upon  by  the  other.  The  new 
generation  of  Japanese  business  men,  however,  are 
beginning  to  grasp  the  general  lines  of  modern  busi- 
ness, and  are  acting  on  them  with  great  ability.  It 
is  to  be  feared,  however,  that  sometimes  this  ability 

143 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 


is  directed  in  the  wrong  channels,  and  that  some  of 
them  have  taken  as  their  model  the  methods  of  the 
sharp-practicing  rather  than  of  the  scrupulously  hon- 
orable trader  ; but  this  is  not  always  the  case. 


CHAPTER  IX 


INTERNATIONAL  BUSINESS  RELATIONS 

People  who  wish  to  make  a mathematical  study 
of  the  figures  relating  to  Japanese  imports  and  ex- 
ports can  obtain  them  without  difficulty  from  the 
periodical  consular  reports  on  the  subject.  Such 
statistics  have  of  late  years  been  very  comprehen- 
sive and  complete,  as  far  as  Japan  is  concerned  ; and 
more  particularly  those  issued  by  the  representatives 
of  England,  the  United  States,  and  Germany. 

In  this  chapter,  therefore,  I have  avoided  statistics 
as  far  as  possible,  especially  in  their  tabulated  form  ; 
for  my  purpose  here  is  to  endeavor  to  make  clear  a 
few  of  the  extremely  complicated  features  in  Japan- 
ese trading,  as  carried  on  with  the  outside  world. 

As  far  as  exports  are  concerned,  very  little  need 
be  said,  as  there  is  nothing  particularly  new,  un- 
usual, or  complicated  in  the  relations  which  obtain 
between  the  Japanese  seller  and  the  foreign  pur- 
chaser. Japanese  rice,  silk,  matting,  tea,  curios, 
bamboo  work,  and  paper,  and  the  hundred  and  one 
other  products  which  are  familiar  all  the  world  over, 
undergo  the  same  routine  as  was  the  case  twenty 
and  even  thirty  years  ago.  Such  trade  is  to  a great 
extent  retained  by  the  local  foreigner,  who  has  had, 

*45 


K 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 


and  still  has,  greater  facilities  for  disposing  of  the 
goods  in  question  than  have  the  natives ; and  at  the 
present  day  it  is  as  an  exporter  from  Japan  rather 
than  as  an  importer  that  the  local  foreign  merchant 
makes  his  money.  Whether  such  a state  of  things 
will  continue  one  cannot  say.  Personally  I antici- 
pate that  the  rapid  growth  of  the  Japanese  mercan- 
tile marine,  and  the  wonderful  extension  of  the  ram- 
ifications of  the  big  Japanese  merchant  firms  in  all  the 
corners  of  the  earth,  will,  in  the  course  of  time,  have 
the  effect  of  ousting  the  foreigner  to  a very  marked 
degree ; for  there  are  few  foreign  firms  that  have 
the  wealth  necessary  to  compete  against  the  Japan- 
ese merchants  successfully  in  the  long-run.  Or,  to 
put  it  in  other  words,  those  who  possess  such  wealth 
will  find  it  far  easier  to  get  a more  profitable  em- 
ployment for  their  capital  in  other  countries. 

It  is,  however,  the  import  trade  of  Japan  which 
interests  the  foreigner  out  of  Japan — that  is  to  say, 
the  home  manufacturer,  and  especially  the  English- 
man ; for,  while  we  find  it  an  easy  matter  to  pur- 
chase any  Japanese  goods  we  may  require,  the  prob- 
lem which  puzzles  us  is  that  which  concerns  the  best 
methods  of  maintaining  and  increasing  our  sales  in 
Japan. 

Before  dealing  with  these  methods,  however,  it  is 
as  well  to  try  and  explain  some  of  the  conditions 
surrounding  international  commerce. 

Speaking  generally,  during  the  last  twelve  years 
the  exports  from  Japan  of  manufactured  articles 
have  increased  tenfold,  while  the  imports,  which  are 

146 


INTERNATIONAL  BUSINESS  RELATIONS 


practically  all  manufactured  goods,  have  about  quad- 
rupled themselves  during  the  same  period. 

Now,  the  bulk  of  these  manufactured  exports 
have  been  made  by  machinery  imported ; and  conse- 
quently the  large  increase  of  manufactured  imports, 
which,  except  for  war  material,  are  composed  mainly 
of  machinery,  railway  materials,  and  other  produc- 
tive plant,  points  to  the  fact  that  the  capacity  for  in- 
creasing the  exports  of  manufactured  goods  will  be 
maintained  proportionately  for  some  time  to  come. 
This  may,  no  doubt,  seem  alarming  to  people  who 
deal  in  articles  which  compete  with  those  now 
turned  out  by  the  Japanese;  but,  whether  it  is  satis- 
factory or  not,  such  a state  of  affairs  forms  a com- 
plete answer  to  those  who  maintain  that  there  is  no 
raison  d'etre  for  that  powerful  mercantile  marine 
service  which  Japan  has  been  organizing  so  steadily 
of  late  years. 

In  dealing  with  the  methods  of  importing,  I pro- 
pose to  lay  stress  on  one  section  of  it,  as  by  so 
doing  the  question  is  somewhat  simplified  for  both 
reader  and  writer.  For  this  purpose  I have  chosen 
the  engineering  trade,  which  is  at  once  the  most 
important  and  most  difficult.  It  has,  however,  the 
advantage  of  possessing  features  covering  all  the 
difficulties  which  beset  the  commerce  in  other  in- 
dustries. 

From  the  point  of  view  of  the  European  manu- 
facturing engineer,  the  most  valuable  work  to  be 
had  from  Japan  is  the  Government  work.  For  not 
only  is  there  more  of  it  than  all  the  private  con- 

T47 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 


tracts  put  together,  but  if  a certain  manufacturer  is 
favored  with  Government  contracts  he  will,  as  a 
matter  of  course,  receive  a great  many  others ; for 
the  Government  as  a purchaser  is  generally  the 
model  on  which  the  private  purchaser  in  Japan 
bases  his  policy. 

On  general  lines  the  private  purchasers  are  logi- 
cal in  so  doing,  for  undoubtedly  the  Government, 
with  their  many  engineers  and  other  employes  who 
have  been  sent  to  complete  their  technical  educa- 
tion abroad,  understand  a great  deal  more  about 
purchasing  than  does  the  private  individual  with 
his  more  limited  experience. 

A few  years  ago  the  Japanese  Government  found 
it  advisable  to  order  most  of  their  material  through 
foreign  firms  in  the  treaty-ports,  and,  as  a rule,  they 
were  well  enough  served.  But,  as  time  went  on, 
the  big  Japanese  merchant  firms  and  banks  not 
only  grew  bigger,  but  began  to  educate  their  own 
people  in  foreign  business  much  as  the  Government 
had  been  educating  their  technical  staff.  Then 
these  merchant  firms  took  over  some  of  the  Govern- 
ment technical  men  and  a skilled  European  or  two, 
and  determined  to  make  a bid  for  the  work  them- 
selves. The  Government,  however,  got  on  better 
with  the  treaty-port  foreigner  than  with  their  own 
countrymen,  for  he  understood  the  work  better  than 
his  Japanese  competitors;  or,  at  all  events,  he  carried 
it  out  more  satisfactorily.  The  Japanese,  however, 
worked  very  hard  and  conscientiously  to  oust  him, 
but  were  only  partially  successful. 

148 


INTERNATIONAL  BUSINESS  RELATIONS 


Up  to  that  time  the  Japanese  business  man,  with 
the  exception,  perhaps,  of  those  occupied  in  agri- 
culture, was  not  only  not  represented  in  Parliament, 
but  took  no  interest  in  politics.  Then  came  the  war 
with  China,  and  after  it  the  nationalist  cry  of  “ Japan 
for  the  Japanese.”  Well,  we  have  heard  of  “Eng- 
land for  the  English,”  and  even  those  of  us  who  ad- 
mire the  notion  in  the  abstract  have  come  to  the 
conclusion  that  there  is  nothing  in  it  in  practice 
from  the  point  of  view  of  a progressive  country. 

In  Japan  this  fact  has  not,  as  yet,  been  fully  re- 
alized. The  Japanese  business  man,  however,  one 
day  suddenly  discovered  that  the  business  men  in 
other  countries  had  enormous  political  power,  and 
when  once  he  became  convinced  of  this  he  deter- 
mined, not  unnaturally,  to  apply  this  power  to  his 
own  country.  He  did  not  want  to  bother  himself 
about  taking  an  active  part  in  the  administration  of 
politics,  but  he  determined  to  make  use  of  the  politi- 
cal lever,  which  is  strong  in  every  country  in  measure 
as  the  class  making  use  of  it  is  backed  up  by  the 
possession  of  wealth,  for  the  purpose  of  forwarding 
his  interests. 

The  Japanese  merchants  considered  that  their  in- 
terests would  be  served  if  they  could  effectually  boy- 
cott or,  at  all  events,  seriously  hamper  their  com- 
petitors, the  local  foreign  merchants,  and  they  set 
themselves  to  use  their  efforts  to  further  these  ends. 

Briefly  explained,  the  Japanese  merchants  were 
strong  enough  politically  to  cause  a law  to  be  passed, 
to  the  effect  that  Government  contracts  for  plant 

149 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 


and  material  were  to  be  given  only  to  Japanese  sub- 
jects. This  was  ostensibly  brought  about  on  patri- 
otic grounds. 

It  was  desirable,  too,  that  Japanese  subjects  taking 
such  contracts  should  be  financially  sound ; and  the 
Government  provided  for  this  in  a very  practical 
manner.  The  law  only  allowed  such  people  to  quote 
as  had  been  in  business  for  a certain  number  of 
years,  and  who  had  habitually  paid  a certain  sum  as 
income-tax.  That  was  right  enough  in  a general 
way,  but  the  sum  stipulated  was  so  great  as  to  put  it 
beyond  the  possibility  of  any  but  an  extremely  small 
number  of  firms  to  enter  the  lists  at  all.  Then,  as 
if  this  measure  were  not  sufficiently  harsh,  it  was 
further  enacted  that  any  one  quoting  for  such  work 
must  deposit  a sum  equal  to  about  five  per  cent,  of 
the  total  contract,  such  contracts  often  amounting 
to  hundreds  of  thousands  of  pounds;  and,  finally, 
that,  when  an  order  was  placed,  the  contracting  party 
had  to  increase  this  deposit  to  double  the  amount. 
The  whole  of  this  amount  was  to  be  forfeited  in 
event  of  any  slight  technical  hitch  occurring  which 
might  contravene  the  stringent  Government  regu- 
lations as  to  delivery,  and  so  on.  In  spite  of  all 
these  precautions,  however,  the  foreign  firms  did 
not  altogether  lose  heart.  If  they  were  willing  to 
fall  in  with  the  above  stringent  conditions,  they 
were  still  able  to  quote  by  passing  their  quotations 
through  a Japanese  man  of  straw,  in  whose  name 
the  deposits  were  made  and  the  contracts  taken. 
But  the  worst  was  to  come. 


INTERNATIONAL  BUSINESS  RELATIONS 


The  Government,  while  employing  inspectors  of 
plant  in  the  countries  where  such  plant  was  made — 
and  it  is  to  be  presumed  that  such  inspectors  were 
competent  men — issued  an  enactment  to  the  effect 
that  all  plant  was  to  be  reinspected  on  arrival  in 
Japan,  and  accepted  or  declined  as  the  case  might 
be,  at  their  option,  and  after  it  had  been  passed  by 
their  own  inspectors  elsewhere.  This  of  course 
threw  a terrible  risk  on  the  shoulders  of  the  mer- 
chant contractors,  whether  native  or  foreign,  as  it 
was  not  to  be  expected  that  the  manufacturers  in 
far-off  countries  would  take  orders  on  such  terms. 

British  manufacturers  set  their  faces  against  this 
measure  from  the  start ; but  both  German  and 
Belgian  firms,  in  their  endeavor  to  oust  British 
trade,  have  accepted  the  risk  from  time  to  time ; 
though  I understand  that  they  are  getting  tired  of 
doing  so  now. 

To  bring  home  the  serious  nature  of  the  liability 
entailed  by  accepting  the  local-inspection  clause  in 
Japanese  contracts,  I quote  below  a portion  of  an 
article  which  I wrote  from  Tokio  for  the  Engineer , 
on  the  “ Government  Inspection  of  Machinery,”  in 
November,  1897: 


“ Manufacturers  in  England  of  the  better  class,  whose  machines 
are  accepted  with  but  a cursory  examination  in  nearly  all  parts  of 
the  world,  would  be  amused  at  the  process  to  which  their  best  of 
tools  are  subjected  on  arrival  here.  It  is  no  unusual  thing  for  the 
machines  to  be  pulled  entirely  to  pieces,  and  for  the  whole  of  the 
paint  to  be  scraped  off  the  surface  of  the  castings  and  other  covered 
parts.  This  portion  of  the  work  is  carried  out  by  more  or  less  un- 
skilled labor.  Then  comes  a more  technical  man  with  a pot  of 
paint  and  a spiked  hammer,  and  he  minutely  examines  every  inch 

I5I 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 


of  the  surfaces  and  taps  them  all  over.  With  a small  brush  he  en- 
circles with  a line  of  paint  every  imaginable  mark  that  there  may  be 
on  the  surface  of  the  metal.  Any  little  superficial  roughness  in  an 
unimportant  place  will  be  marked,  and  I have  seen  often  enough 
slight  seams  and  hammer  indentations  painted  round,  on  the  sup- 
position that  they  were  serious  flaws.  It  does  not  follow  that  they 
will  be  considered  as  such  at  the  final  inspection,  for  I had  occasion 
to  examine,  among  other  things,  some  steel  flues  for  marine  work, 
which  were  obviously  good  in  every  way,  literally  covered  with 
hundreds  of  painted  rings,  each  one  indicating  an  imaginary  flaw. 
These  flues,  after  a great  deal  of  delay  and  expense,  were  finally  ac- 
cepted. 

“ To  give  an  idea  as  to  the  risk  that  a manufacturer  runs  in  ac- 
cepting the  local-inspection  clause  with  regard  to  goods  for  Japan, 
I cannot  do  better  than  refer  to  the  large  contract  that  was  given 
out  for  cast-iron  pipes  for  the  Tokio  Waterworks.  The  contract  in 
question  amounted  to  about  16,000  tons  of  pipes  and  bends  of  all 
dimensions,  from  four  feet  diameter  downward.  The  order  was 
divided  among  two  British  firms  and  one  Belgian  firm.  The  Bel- 
gian house  put  in  a very  low  figure,  and  received  an  order  for  10,000 
tons  out  of  the  16,000  tons,  including  all  the  special  work  in  the  way 
of  bends.  Of  the  10,000  tons  of  Belgian  pipes  only  2700  tons  were 
accepted,  and  of  the  English,  4000  tons  out  of  6000  tons. 

“ The  greatest  sufferer  by  the  above  transaction  is  the  Belgian 
manufacturer,  who  took  the  risk  of  inspection  in  Japan  on  his  own 
shoulders,  and  now  finds  himself  saddled  with  three-fourths  of  his 
goods  after  delivering  them  half-way  round  the  world.  The  risk  of 
the  British  pipes  was  taken  by  two  firms  of  merchants  in  Japan,  who 
supplied  the  goods  in  question,  one  being  an  English  and  the  other 
a Japanese  house. 

“ There  is  no  doubt  that,  with  the  exception  of  a small  percent- 
age, the  rejected  pipes,  whether  or  not  they  filled  the  specification 
to  the  letter,  were  perfectly  good  for  the  purpose.  The  Belgian 
pipes  were  somewhat  rough-looking,  and  not  always  very  close  in 
the  grain  ; but  any  one  having  occasion,  as  I did,  to  go  through 
the  acres  and  acres  of  ground  covered  by  these  rejected  goods 
could  only  come  to  the  conclusion  that  a gross  injustice  has  been 
done  all  round. 

“ Apart  from  the  loss  to  the  contractors,  it  is  estimated  that  the 
inspection  alone  has  cost  the  Government  between  ^5000  and 
.£6000.  One  is  not  surprised  to  learn,  under  the  circumstances, 
that  now  that  the  Government  are  obliged  to  ask  for  further  tenders 
not  a single  firm,  with  or  without  a reputation,  will  quote. 

“ It  may  interest  your  readers  to  know  how  this  particular  in- 
spection was  carried  out.  When  the  pipes  were  put  on  shore  they 


INTERNATIONAL  BUSINESS  RELATIONS 


were  attacked  by  an  army  of  coolies,  who  rolled  them  about  and 
mercilessly  applied  the  inevitable  paint-brush  and  spiked  hammer 
all  over  their  outside  surfaces;  and  wherever  the  diameter  of  the 
pipes  was  large  enough  to  permit  a thin  man  to  crawl  through  them, 
the  same  process  was  repeated  on  the  inside.  In  cases  where  the 
pipes  were  too  small  for  this  to  be  done,  their  internal  surfaces  were 
examined  by  means  of  candles  on  the  ends  of  sticks.  As  each  in- 
dividual pipe  had  to  be  treated  in  this  manner,  the  process  naturally 
took  some  time  and  manual  labor.  However,  when  this  had  been 
satisfactorily  completed,  and  the  pipes  had  assumed  a generally 
spotted  appearance  from  the  lavish  application  of  paint,  a gentle- 
man, armed  with  a microscope  and  efficiently  aided  by  a staff  of 
candle-bearers,  and  men  with  more  spiked  hammers,  probes,  and 
appliances  for  cleaning  the  surface  of  the  metal,  minutely  went  over 
the  ground  again  to  satisfy  himself  as  to  which  of  the  marked 
spots  indicated  a serious  defect  — t.e.,  a defect  within  the  literal 
meaning  of  the  specification.  This  operation  brought  into  play  a 
second  handling  of  each  individual  pipe.  But  this  was  not  the  end 
of  all  things,  for  every  pipe  had  to  be  callipered  throughout  its 
entire  length,  and  at  not  less  than  four  different  points.  If  it  was 
found  that  in  any  part  the  thickness  was  below  the  specification  re- 
quirements the  pipe  was  totally  condemned,  unless  the  thin  portion 
happened  to  be  something  above  half-way  down  its  lengthen  which 
case  the  offending  portion  might  be  cut  off,  and  the  shortened 
length  only  taken  over  at  a reduced  price  and  by  weight.  . . . 
Unless  a manufacturer  is  prepared  to  undertake  to  accept  these 
conditions,  or  can  get  a local  merchant  to  accept  them  for  him,  it  is 
not  worth  while  making  a contract  for  pipes  at  the  present  day  with 
the  Japanese  Government.” 


In  justice  to  the  Japanese  Government,  it  must 
be  admitted  that  these  severe  conditions  as  to  in- 
spection are  enforced,  nominally  at  all  events,  with 
equal  severity  whether  the  importing  agent  is  a 
Japanese  merchant  or  a foreigner.  But  the  Japanese 
merchants,  no  doubt,  to  a great  extent  on  account 
of  their  nationality,  have  facilities  for  getting  over 
these  difficulties  which  the  foreigners  have  not,  and 
they  have  many  methods  of  recouping  themselves 
on  one  contract  for  losses  they  may  have  sustained 

*53 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 


on  another.  Consequently  the  Japanese  merchants 
find  themselves  prepared  to  take  all  sorts  of  risks 
which  a foreign  merchant  may  naturally  not  care  to 
face. 

It  is  alleged,  too,  though  I am  not  in  a position  to 
say  to  what  extent  it  is  true,  that  the  native  mer- 
chants used  an  unjustifiable  influence  to  bring  about 
the  rejection  of  goods  imported  by  foreign  firms. 
Whether  such  a state  of  things  exists  to  a marked 
degree  or  not,  it  is  clear  from  the  other  facts  I have 
given  above  that  the  path  of  the  local  foreign  mer- 
chant in  Japan  is  not  altogether  a smooth  one  as  far 
as  the  import  trade  is  concerned,  and  it  is  clear  that 
if  in  the  face  of  all  these  difficulties  he  manages  to 
carry  on  a trade  which  is  mutually  beneficial  to  him- 
self and  his  compatriots  at  home,  the  manufacturers, 
he  deserves  a very  great  deal  of  credit.  He  deserves 
more  than  this — their  support  But  he  does  not 
get  it,  and  for  the  reason  that,  as  things  are  now  in 
Japan,  the  interests  of  the  home  manufacturer  and 
those  of  the  local  trader  are  not  identical.  This  is 
unfortunate,  but  it  is  none  the  less  a fact 

As  made  clear  in  another  chapter,  I am  not  a 
great  believer  in  the  existence  on  a large  scale  of 
such  a virtue  as  sentiment  or  gratitude  in  business. 
Did  it  exist  in  England,  we  should  support  our  fel- 
low-countrymen in  Japan  more  than  we  do.  But, 
alas  ! the  British  manufacturer  wants  to  get  orders ; 
and,  in  practice,  it  turns  out  that  he  does  not  care 
where  those  orders  come  from  as  long  as  he  receives 
them  with  a minimum  of  trouble  and  expense,  and 

*54 


INTERNATIONAL  BUSINESS  RELATIONS 


provided  he  gets  his  money.  From  his  point  of  view 
— a selfish  one,  no  doubt — if  he  finds  that  a Japan- 
ese merchant  firm  gives  him  less-trouble  than  a for- 
eign firm,  he  prefers  the  former.  And  this  is  often 
the  case,  at  all  events,  when  it  is  a question  of  Gov- 
ernment work ; for  the  foreigners,  in  view  of  the 
complications  with  which  the  Japanese  Government 
hedge  round  their  contracts,  very  naturally  try  to 
exact  strict  guarantees  from  the  manufacturers  to 
protect  themselves  in  some  measure ; whereas  the 
Japanese  merchant  trusts  somewhat  to  his  luck,  or 
to  his  diplomatic  skill,  or  to  special  favoring  from 
his  own  countrymen,  whichever  one  likes  to  call  it, 
to  pull  him  through  his  difficulties  with  his  Govern- 
ment. 

All  this  falls  very  heavily  on  the  foreign  merchant 
in  Japan,  and  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  he  is 
pessimistic  with  regard  to  his  position  and  prospects. 
Over  and  over  again  trading  people  in  Yokohama, 
while  complaining  of  the  existing  state  of  things, 
have  told  me  that  the  coming  into  operation  of  the 
new  treaties  will  be  “ the  last  straw”  destined  to 
break  the  back  of  their  business,  and  that  the  effect 
will  be  that  most  of  the  long  established  and  best 
known  of  these  firms  will  leave  the  country. 

How  far  this  forecast  is  likely  to  hold  good  must 
of  course  be  a matter  of  opinion.  But  if,  as  we  are 
told,  the  days  of  the  trading  foreigner  in  Japan  are 
numbered,  it  does  not  necessarily  follow  that  the 
international  business  of  the  country  will  decline. 
Nor  does  it  necessarily  mean  that  business  foreign- 

I55 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 


ers  will  not  be  needed  in  that  country.  The  channels 
through  which  Japanese  orders  find  their  way  to  the 
manufacturer  may  be  changed,  and  the  orders  may 
not  in  every  case  find  their  way  to  their  present  des- 
tinations. Consequently,  it  behooves  manufacturers 
who  wish  to  retain  their  Japanese  trade  to  find  out 
for  themselves  the  best  steps  to  be  taken  to  secure 
that  end. 

Now  the  business  foreigner  of  whom  the  Japan- 
ese are  in  want — although  they  do  not,  as  a rule, 
acknowledge  the  fact — is  the  thoroughly  technical 
man  ; and  they  want  technical  men  in  almost  every 
capacity  with  regard  to  modern  industrial  concerns. 
They  will  not  engage  him  and  pay  for  him  them- 
selves, because,  in  their  present  ultra-nationalist  frame 
of  mind,  they  like  to  feel  that  they  can  do  without  him. 

It  may,  however,  pay  some  of  our  larger  manu- 
facturers to  send  over  to  Japan  at  their  own  expense 
men  who  thoroughly  understand  the  details  of  their 
particular  specialties,  who  will  be  in  a position  to 
tell  the  Japanese  what  they  want  to  know.  The 
ordinary  commercial  tout,  whatever  his  value  might 
have  been  in  Japan  years  ago,  is  distinctly  at  a dis- 
count now.  The  Japanese  business  people  have  a 
good  insight  into  modern  business  methods;  they 
have  their  banking  establishments  all  over  the  world, 
and  they  know  how  to  make  estimates  and  how  to 
quote  for  most  of  the  ordinary  articles  of  commerce 
at  the  present  day.  But  what  they  do  not  yet  alto- 
gether know  is  how  to  select  their  makers  of  the  for- 
eign articles  they  require,  and  they  are  constantly 

156 


INTERNATIONAL  BUSINESS  RELATIONS 


misled  by  the  catalogues  of  inferior  and  even  of 
bogus  manufacturers.  Again,  they  have  not  yet 
attained  the  industrial  experience  necessary  to  en- 
able them  to  get  the  best  results  from  such  plant  as 
they  may  purchase. 

If,  therefore,  we  are  to  assume  that  in  course  of 
time  the  native  merchant  will  wipe  out  the  local 
foreign  merchant,  who  has  stuck  more  to  his  home 
manufacturers  than  the  home  manufacturers  have 
to  him,  the  manufacturers  will  require  to  replace 
him  by  technical  representatives,  as  above  explained. 
Such  men,  if  they  are  versed  in  all  the  details  of  the 
industries  they  represent,  and,  above  all,  if  they  run 
absolutely  straight,  will,  by  dint  of  educating  the 
Japanese  in  that  one  branch  of  modern  knowledge 
which  they  now  neglect — the  practical  side  of  their 
industries  as  opposed  to  the  theoretical — be  able,  if 
not  to  secure  orders  and  do  commercial  business 
themselves,  at  all  events  to  direct  orders  into  the 
proper  channels  from  their  own  and  their  employers’ 
point  of  view. 

To  make  my  meaning  quite  clear  as  to  the  class 
of  business  man  required  in  Japan  at  the  present 
day,  I would  say  that  he  should  be  one  who,  instead 
of  trying  to  sell  things  to  the  Japanese,  should  pass 
his  time  in  visiting  factories  where  his  machines  or 
appliances  were  being  used,  and  who  could  give 
practical  advice  to  the  Japanese  users  as  to  whether 
or  not  they  had  got  the  most  suitable  plant ; and  in 
putting  them  in  the  way  of  working  such  plant  to 
the  best  advantage. 


x57 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 


There  are  two  considerations  which  are  likely  to 
make  manufacturers  hesitate  before  sending  technical 
representatives  of  the  above  class  to  Japan.  First, 
there  are  comparatively  few  firms  who  consider  that 
the  trade  from  that  country  would  warrant  the  ex- 
penditure entailed  by  maintaining  such  a man — for 
he  must  be  a good  one — in  Japan  for  considerable 
periods  at  a stretch.  Secondly,  it  is  obvious  that 
when  a good  man  of  this  sort  has  worked  consci- 
entiously for  a long  time  among  the  Japanese,  in- 
structing them  in  the  details  of  his  particular  indus- 
try at  the  expense  of  an  individual  firm,  another 
such  representative  might  come  immediately  after 
him,  and  from  another  firm,  and  reap  much  of  the 
harvest  for  which  his  predecessor  had  sown  the 
seeds.  I see  no  other  method,  however,  than  the 
above  for  dealing  satisfactorily  with  the  Japanese  in 
their  present  state  of  industrial  knowledge. 

The  ordinary  foreign  commercial  man  is  almost 
valueless  at  the  present  day,  as  an  agent  in  Japan, 
for  representing  engineers,  at  all  events ; for  he  is 
not  able  to  tell  the  Japanese  any  more  than  they 
know  already ; nor  is  an  engineer  of  much  good  for 
the  purpose  unless  he  is  more  or  less  of  a specialist 
with  regard  to  the  subjects  he  is  dealing  with. 

It  would  be  a different  matter  were  the  foreign 
agent  to  be  able  to  deal  directly  with  the  native  pur- 
chaser, but  as  a rule  he  is  not ; for  he  does  not  speak 
the  language  well  enough,  and  consequently  he  has 
to  negotiate  either  with  the  merchant  firms  or  with 
big  administrations,  nearly  all  of  which  have  commer- 

158 


INTERNATIONAL  BUSINESS  RELATIONS 


cial  and  more  or  less  technical  people  attached  to 
them  who  possess  a fair  all-round  knowledge  of  the 
subjects  in  question  themselves.  When  such  is  the 
case,  a foreigner,  to  do  any  good  with  them,  must 
know  at  all  events  a little  more  of  his  subject  than 
the  man  he  is  talking  to.  Many  of  the  big  foreign 
merchant  firms  are  increasing  the  number  of  special- 
ists on  their  staffs ; but  in  the  case  of  firms  dealing 
in  many  varieties  of  articles,  it  is  difficult  to  have  a 
special  man  in  each  department.  The  treaty-port 
firms,  too,  are  beginning  to  alter  their  policy  some- 
what to  suit  the  times,  and  are  rather  less  unbending 
in  their  attitude  than  they  were  in  times  gone  by. 

I cannot  believe  that  the  effect  of  the  coming  into 
force  of  the  treaties,  or  the  unjust  handicapping  of 
the  foreigner  above  explained,  or  anything  else,  will 
knock  out  altogether  such  firms  as  may  choose  to 
adapt  their  policy  to  suit  the  new  state  of  things. 
The  local  trader,  more  than  any  other  section  of  the 
foreign  community  in  Japan,  has  been  the  last  to  re- 
alize the  enormous  progress  which  has  been  going 
on.  He  it  is  who  speaks  less  Japanese  than  any 
other  section  of  the  foreign  community,  and  who  as- 
sociates less  with  the  people  of  the  country. 

Years  ago  such  exclusiveness  was  all  very  well ; 
for  then  the  Japanese  if  they  wanted  to  buy  any- 
thing from  abroad  had  to  apply  to  the  treaty-port 
foreigner  to  get  it  for  them.  Now  this  is  not  only 
not  necessary,  but  the  Japanese  merchants  have, 
temporarily,  at  all  events,  been  able  to  establish  a 
serious  and  legal  boycott  injuriously  affecting  their 

x59 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 

foreign  competitor,  as  explained  earlier  in  this 
chapter. 

It  would  be  absurd  to  suggest  that  as  time  goes 
on  the  Japanese  will  become  less  capable  of  con- 
ducting their  commercial  transactions  themselves; 
and,  were  it  not  for  the  fact  that  one  may  reasonably 
hope  that  the  existing  spirit  of  “ down  with  the 
foreigner  ” cannot  last  forever,  the  future  of  the 
local  foreign  merchant  would  be  bad  indeed.  If 
one  applies,  however,  in  a cold-blooded  manner,  the 
laws  of  economics  to  the  question,  one  can  only 
come  to  the  conclusion  either  that  in  the  long-run 
Japan  will  have  to  treat  the  foreigner  on  an  ordinary, 
fair  business  basis,  or  she  must  come  to  grief,  as  far 
as  her  progressive  policy  is  concerned.  Quite  apart 
from  any  question  of  war,  the  Powers  whose  business 
people  she  tries  to  hamper  in  her  own  country  could 
in  retaliation  make  matters  so  unpleasant  for  her  as 
to  stop  her  outward  trade  altogether,  and  at  any 
time,  if  they  felt  inclined. 

As  stated  above,  the  great  stumbling-block  to 
satisfactory  trade  with  Japan  is  the  want  of  knowl- 
edge of  the  Japanese  language  by  our  traders.  Over 
and  over  again  I have  heard  it  said  that  it  is  quite 
useless  to  speak  Japanese,  because  so  many  of  them 
speak  English.  In  fact,  the  Europeans  who  speak 
Japanese  fluently  seldom  or  never  make  use  of  it 
when  talking  to  a Japanese  who  speaks  their  lan- 
guage even  imperfectly,  unless  he  is  an  intimate  friend, 
as  it  is  said  that  the  Japanese  resent  the  use  of  their 
language  by  a foreigner.  But  the  fact  remains  that 

160 


INTERNATIONAL  BUSINESS  RELATIONS 


the  man  who  is  not  able  to  understand  the  language 
of  the  party  he  is  dealing  with  is  often  at  a very  great 
disadvantage  in  carrying  on  an  intricate  negotiation. 

In  stating  this  I am  aware  that  I am  laying 
myself  open  to  the  criticism  that  to  suggest  that  a 
knowledge  of  Japanese  should  be  attained  by  our 
local  traders  is  to  suggest  an  impossibility.  But,  if 
this  is  so,  it  means  that  the  Japanese  must  hold  the 
whip-hand  over  the  foreigner  in  commercial  matters 
in  their  own  country. 

The  British  Government,  which  is  not  particular- 
ly noted  for  the  break  - neck  speed  with  which  it 
rushes  ahead  of  the  times,  has  long  since  grasped 
the  fact  that  it  is  necessary  that  its  local  diplomatic 
and  consular  officials  should  speak  Japanese,  with 
the  result  that  at  the  present  day  at  least  three  of 
her  Majesty’s  officials  at  Tokio,  including  the  Min- 
ister, not  only  speak  but  read  and  write  the  language 
fluently.  The  life  of  the  diplomatic  students,  too, 
who  go  out  to  Japan  is  made  a burden  for  the  first 
two  years  after  their  arrival,  in  wrestling  with  some 
of  the  complicated  hieroglyphics  out  of  the  80,000 
which  go  to  make  up  the  ideographic  system  of  the 
written  language. 

The  business  man  will  tell  you,  and  possibly  he 
is  right,  that  life  is  not  long  enough  to  permit  of 
an  exhaustive  study  of  Japanese.  If  that  is  so,  it 
is  to  be  feared  that,  from  the  moment  that  the  Jap- 
anese have  completed  their  modern  education,  the 
foreign  trader,  who  once  was  placed  on  a pedestal, 
and  who,  if  not  liked,  was,  at  all  events,  regarded 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 


with  profound  respect  on  account  of  his  wonderful 
knowledge,  will  have  lost  all  his  prestige,  and  with 
it  his  chances  of  carrying  on  his  business  at  a profit 
to  himself. 

If  the  days  of  the  resident  foreign  commercial 
man  are  on  the  decline,  those  of  the  casual  visiting 
commercial  agent  are  in  a no  more  satisfactory  state. 
The  local  merchants,  whether  native  or  foreign,  re- 
gard such  men  as  interlopers,  who  wish  to  have  the 
trade  carried  on  in  a different  manner  than  accord- 
ing to  the  established  local  routine ; as  people,  in 
fact,  who  are  likely  to  disturb  their  business  methods, 
and  to  do  at  the  best  but  little  good  to  trade.  There 
is  also,  too,  a lingering  suspicion  in  the  minds  of 
the  merchants  that  the  new-comer  is  endeavoring  to 
deal  direct  with  the  Japanese  purchasers,  and  over 
their  heads,  or  that  his  visit  may  eventually  lead  to 
such  a policy  being  adopted. 

My  advice  to  manufacturers  is  not  to  attempt 
such  a policy  at  the  present  day,  but  to  direct  their 
efforts  rather  towards  urging  their  respective  Gov- 
ernments to  negotiate  with  the  Government  of  Japan 
to  treat  the  local  foreign  trader  as  fairly  as  Japanese 
traders  are  treated  in  Western  countries. 


CHAPTER  X 


MODERN  INDUSTRIAL  JAPAN 

No  more  striking  illustration  of  the  wonderful 
adaptability  of  the  Japanese  character  is  to  be  found 
than  that  afforded  by  the  readiness  with  which  they 
have  taken  up  Western  methods  of  manufacturing. 

Any  one  whose  business  it  might  be  to  visit  the 
modern  factories  in  the  Japan  of  to-day,  and  who 
afterwards  might  pick  up  Rein’s  Industries  of  Japan , 
thoughtful  and  excellent  in  every  way  as  is  that 
work,  might  well  imagine  that  what  he  had  seen, 
and  what  he  reads  in  that  book,  had  to  do  with  two 
absolutely  different  countries.  This  does  not  mean 
that  the  industrial  Japan  described  so  ably  by  Rein 
has  ceased  to  exist,  but  that  during  the  last  few 
years,  side  by  side  with  the  picturesque,  effective, 
and  time -honored  native  handicrafts,  there  have 
sprung  into  being  the  essentially  progressive,  but 
inartistic  factory  chimney  and  its  accompanying  and 
still  more  hideous  workshops,  built  on  the  most  ap- 
proved of  European  and  xAmerican  designs. 

My  advice  to  the  visitor  to  Japan  who  wishes  to 
enjoy  himself  and  improve  his  mind  is  to  study  the 
industrial  Japan  depicted  by  Rein;  for,  though  less 
obtrusive,  it  still  remains,  and  is  far  more  interest- 

163 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 


in g than  its  modern  congener.  Let  him  see  the 
making  of  cloisonne-ware,  embroidery,  rice-mats,  and 
carving,  and  admire  the  curios,  toys,  hand-weaving, 
and  painting,  while  these  arts  are  still  to  be  seen  as 
now  carried  on ; for  my  conviction  is  that  if  the  old 
Japan  is  destined  to  die,  as  we  are  so  often  told  is  to 
be  the  case,  mortification  will  first  attack  its  native 
industries. 

To  acquire  the  necessary  efficiency  in  these  old 
crafts  demanded  a life-long  application,  commenc- 
ing at  an  early  age — that  is  to  say,  at  a period  of 
life  which  has  now  to  be  devoted  to  more  modern 
and  general  education.  Such  work  insured  to  the 
’prentice  hand,  and  even  to  the  full-blown  workman, 
a remuneration  so  small  as  to  be  quite  inadequate 
to  meet  what  will  be  considered  as  the  necessities  of 
life  to  the  Japanese  of  the  coming  generation. 

The  modern  factory  has  had  the  effect  of  trebling 
the  wages  of  the  Japanese  artisan  in  three  years,  and 
under  such  circumstances  it  is  hardly  likely  that  the 
working  classes  of  to-day  will  be  able  to  afford  to 
stick  to  their  old  arts  and  industries  at  the  old  prices. 
For  the  modern  factory-owner  is  there  to  offer  a very 
high  rate  of  wages  on  the  condition  that  these  natu- 
rally clean  people  shall  come  and  dirty  themselves 
for  a certain  number  of  hours  every  day  in  his  work- 
shops. 

The  only  thing  which  has  tended  to  save  the  situa- 
tion in  some  degree  up  till  now  is  the  fact  that  the 
artistic  instincts  of  the  Japanese  revolt  against  the 
factory  system,  the  effect  of  which  is  to  convert  the 

164 


THE  OFFICES  OF  THE  DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE  AND  COMMERCE 


MODERN  INDUSTRIAL  JAPAN 

man  into  a machine — that  is  to  say,  to  make  him 
work  without  intelligence  and  without  responsibility, 
according  to  the  ideal  of  the  modern  trade-union. 
For  every  Japanese  workman  is  by  instinct  an  artist 
as  well  as  an  artisan,  and  consequently  it  has  been 
his  wont  to  throw  his  individuality  into  his  work. 
This  it  is  that  has  lent  the  artistic  charm  to  a paper 
and  bamboo  fan  costing  less  than  a half-penny,  or  to 
the  Japanese  doll  we  find  in  Christmas  crackers  sold 
to  us  for  a few  pence  per  dozen. 

Most  people  who  write  about  China  tell  their 
readers  at  some  stage  or  other  that  the  Chinese  are 
so  conscientious  in  imitating  a given  article  that  if 
you  were  to  send  a tailor  a suit  of  clothes  to  copy, 
and  there  happened  to  be  a tear  somewhere,  he  would 
faithfully  reproduce  the  tear  in  making  the  new  suit. 
With  the  Japanese  workmen  the  situation  is  re- 
versed ; for  if  you  tell  a carpenter  to  make  even  a 
plain  wooden  box  exactly  like  a sample,  the  chances 
are  that  the  new  one  will  vary  in  some  manner  from 
the  original.  The  difference  may  or  may  not  be  an 
improvement,  but  it  will  be  there.  Thus  it  is  that 
the  Chinese  make  better  factory  hands  than  the 
Japanese. 

It  is  owing  to  the  tendency  of  the  Japanese  arti- 
san to  remain  faithful  to  his  native  arts  and  indus- 
tries that,  in  order  to  get  factory  hands  in  sufficient 
numbers,  the  owners  have  had  to  lift  wages  to  the 
large  extent  mentioned  above,  and  thus  it  is,  as  time 
goes  on  and  the  growing  generation  gets  habituated 
to  the  factory,  the  artistic  capabilities,  of  the  lower 

i65 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 


class  Japanese,  at  all  events,  will  be  crushed  out  of 
him  by  the  steam-hammer  and  the  hydraulic  press. 

He  will  become  demoralized  as  an  artist  and  as  a 
man,  but  he  will  have  gained  in  “civilization”  and 
importance.  He  will  have  become  an  enlightened 
member  of  society,  capable  of  reading  his  anti-capi- 
talist newspapers,  and  of  more  or  less  understanding 
politics ; he  will  have  acquired  greatly  increased 
wants,  and  yet  be  in  a position  to  pay  considerable 
sums  in  support  of  a trade-union  worked  on  the 
most  approved  of  modern  systems. 

Certain  writers  have  from  time  to  time  pointed 
out  the  small  remuneration  which  has  been  meted 
out  to  the  Japanese  workman,  and  have  used  the 
figures  somewhat  unfairly  for  the  purpose  of  show- 
ing how  down-trodden  and  unfortunate  were  the 
workers  in  Japan  as  compared  with  those  in  their 
own  country.  I can  only  say  that  I have  not  found 
— even  among  the  extremely  poor  in  Japan — a tithe 
of  the  misery  and  degradation  to  be  met  with  in  the 
course  of  an  ordinary  walk  through  the  streets  of 
London  or  New  York,  or  in  any  of  the  big  Con- 
tinental capitals. 

In  Osaka  and  other  big  manufacturing  centres 
the  accumulating  factories  are  beginning  to  inaugu- 
rate something  of  this  sort  of  degradation  of  living 
which  usually  accompanies  prosperous  modern  in- 
dustries elsewhere ; but  up  to  the  present  the  life  of 
the  working  people  of  Japan  has  not  become  suffi- 
ciently modernized  to  compare  either  in  dirt  or  mis- 
ery with  that  of  our  lowest  classes.  No  doubt, 

166 


5 " 
o Z2 


5-  "a 

(T>  ?0 


25 

n 


o 

3 t/) 


o'  25 

3 <— i 

o 


MODERN  INDUSTRIAL  JAPAN 


however,  industrial  progress  will  effect  this  in 
time. 

The  Japanese,  when  once  they  decided  to  make 
their  country  a modern  one,  took  the  industrial  bull 
by  the  horns,  and  began  by  building  railways. 

The  Emperor  formally  sanctioned  their  introduc- 
tion in  1869,  under  extremely  urgent  pressure  from 
certain  progressive  statesmen. 

In  almost  every  country  the  introduction  of  rail- 
ways has  met  with  violent  opposition  from  a large 
and  powerful  section  of  the  community,  and  Japan 
was  no  exception  to  this  rule. 

Among  the  men  whose  names  are  now  familiar 
as  champions  of  Japanese  progress  are  some,  strange 
to  say,  who  were  at  the  time  the  most  persistent  in 
their  opposition  to  the  introduction  of  railways. 
However,  when  the  Emperor  had  been  gained  over 
to  sanction  them,  this  opposition  was  overpowered, 
and  their  construction  was  at  once  proceeded  with. 

Not  very  far  short  of  two  hundred  foreigners,  in 
all  capacities,  were  engaged  by  the  Japanese  Gov- 
ernment to  organize  and  build  the  first  lines.  By 
the  time,  however,  that  about  one  hundred  and  fifty 
miles  had  been  constructed  less  than  twenty  foreign- 
ers remained  on  the  staff. 

To-day,  with  over  3000  miles  of  lines  in  the  four 
islands  of  Hondo,  Kyushu,  Shikoku,  and  Hokkaido, 
there  are  only  three  foreigners  left  in  the  employ  of 
the  Imperial  Japanese  Railways. 

At  first,  with  that  wonderful  forethought  which 
characterizes  the  organization  of  nearly  all  the  big 

167 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 


projects  of  the  Japanese,  the  Government  took  on 
itself  the  whole  responsibility  of  construction  and 
running.  But  when  it  was  considered  that  the 
Japanese  engineers  and  business  people  had  learned 
enough  of  the  details  of  railway  working  and  man- 
agement for  private  companies  to  be  able  to  run 
them,  the  Government  granted,  in  1881,  a tentative 
and  very  liberal  charter  to  the  Japan  Railway  Com- 
pany, and,  in  order  to  insure  the  thing  being  done 
properly,  undertook  the  construction  and  working 
of  the  lines  for  that  company  for  a period  of  ten 
years. 

Since  then  a great  number  of  charters  have  been 
granted  on  decreasingly  liberal  terms,  until  at  the 
present  day  some  forty  railway  companies  control 
the  entire  system,  the  Imperial  Railways  represent- 
ing about  one-third  of  the  total  mileage. 

The  captious  critic  has  an  easy  field  for  finding 
a great  deal  of  fault  with  regard  to  the  conditions 
under  which  these  railways  are  maintained  and  run 
from  a Western  point  of  view;  but  if  we  bear  in 
mind  that  they  were  built  to  meet  Japanese  re- 
quirements and  not  European,  there  is  little  to  be 
said  against  them ; and  when  we  take  into  consid- 
eration the  extreme  difficulties  which  confront  the 
railway  engineer  in  Japan,  in  the  shape  of  moun- 
tainous country,  earthquakes,  and  floods,  with  their 
attendant  evils,  one  can  only  admire  extremely  the 
skill  and  patience  of  both  the  foreign  and  native 
organizers  of  this  now  big  and  effective  railway 
system. 

1 68 


\ 


MODERN  INDUSTRIAL  JAPAN 


Simultaneously  with  the  building  of  railways, 
Japan  began  to  create  a modern  mercantile  marine, 
and  the  Government  has  logically  followed  out  its 
policy  by  fostering  this  in  a proportionately  liberal 
manner. 

As  Nature  has  provided  the  “ permanent-way  ” for 
ships,  the  Government  did  not  find  it  necessary  to 
run  their  own  merchant  vessels,  and  they  therefore 
contented  themselves  with  judiciously  subsidizing 
not  only  the  private  capitalists  who  ran  steamers 
but  the  native  ship -builders  who  had  enterprise 
enough  to  begin  building  them. 

This  policy  of  the  Government  of  nursing  the 
railways  and  mercantile  fleet  in  a manner  which 
entailed  very  great  expense  has  been  much  criti- 
cised ; and  it  has  over  and  over  again  been  said  that 
the  Japanese,  in  their  state  of  vainglorious  inflation, 
were  trying  to  do  too  much,  and  that  in  the  end  they 
must  come  to  lamentable  grief ; but  I can  see  no 
reason  for  such  a theory  as  far  as  railways  and  steam- 
ships are  concerned,  for  these  may  be  described  as 
the  necessary  arteries  of  modern  commerce,  and 
without  them  the  Japanese  could  not  hope  to  suc- 
ceed in  the  industrial  struggle  for  life. 

The  proof,  too,  of  the  pudding  is  in  the  eating, 
to  use  a vulgar  expression,  and  the  railways,  at  all 
events,  have  proved  a great  financial  success.  In 
fact,  I do  not  think  that  there  is  any  complete  rail- 
way system  of  3000  miles  in  the  world  which  has 
been  worked  to  so  great  a profit  per  mile  as  that 
of  Japan.  The  carping  critic  is  also  very  fond  of 

169 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 


pointing  out  that  many  of  the  smaller  companies 
are  in  a very  rotten  condition,  and  so  they  are ; but 
as  fast  as  they  become  so  they  are  absorbed  into 
the  larger  ones,  and  in  the  long-run  go  to  add  to 
the  general  industrial  strength  of  Japan. 

With  regard  to  the  shipping  subsidies,  the  Gov- 
ernment are  no  doubt  still  very  much  out  of  pocket 
by  their  enterprise,  but  everything  points  to  the 
conclusion  that  with  patience  and  perseverance  in 
their  present  policy  they  will  eventually  have  cre- 
ated not  only  a very  powerful,  but  an  extremely 
profitable  mercantile  marine  as  a permanent  benefit 
to  the  trade  of  their  country. 

In  the  solution  of  the  modern  industrial  problem 
in  the  country,  the  feature  that  strikes  one  most 
forcibly  is  that,  while  in  countries  like  Russia,  Spain, 
Portugal,  Italy,  Turkey,  Greece,  Mexico,  and  the 
South  American  Republics,  to  say  nothing  of  China 
and  India,  in  all  of  which  the  labor  in  the  engineer- 
ing and  other  “ skilled  ” trades  can  often  be  satis- 
factorily drilled  into  shape  from  native  material,  the 
heads  of  departments  and  the  active  technical  chiefs 
are  very  often  foreigners  — usually  Englishmen, 
Americans,  or  Germans;  in  Japan  this  is  not  so. 

Except  in  certain  industrial  concerns  in  the 
treaty-ports,  owned  by  foreigners,  there  is  hardly 
such  a thing  as  an  executive  foreigner  at  the  head 
of  any  Japanese  factory  or  administration. 

A German  or  two  will  be  found  managing  a 
brewery,  and  a few  Scotchmen  in  ship  - building 
yards,  and  so  on;  and  that  is  all.  You  can  visit 

170 


SHIMBASHI  RAILWAY  STATION,  TOKIO 

The  chief  terminus  of  the  imperial  railways.  This  station  was  built  when  there  were 
only  eighteen  miles  of  railway  in  Japan.  At  the  present  day  there  are  about  three 
thousand. 


MITSU  BISHI  BANK 


■ 


MODERN  INDUSTRIAL  JAPAN 


arsenals  and  dockyards,  and  nearly  all  the  railway 
and  engineering  shops,  and  you  will  see  no  sign  of 
a foreigner  anywhere.  You  will  be  received  in  a 
foreign  office  by  people  in  foreign  clothes,  with  all 
the  paraphernalia  of  foreign  business  around  them. 
You  will  be  talked  to  in  English,  as  a rule,  and  you 
will  be  shown  through  works  built  on  English  lines, 
and  filled  with  workmen  dressed  like  English  me- 
chanics, working  at  English  vice£  or  at  machines 
with  the  names  of  English  makers  on  them.  But 
you  are  the  only  Englishman  or  European  there, 
and  you  look  around  and  ask  yourself  how  it  has  all 
been  done. 

Your  Japanese  friend  does  not  tell  you  of  any 
foreign  assistance,  though  you  see  the  hand  of  the 
foreigner  in  all.  But  where  is  he  ? And  your 
thoughts  instinctively  revert  back  to  the  great 
educational  establishments  of  Japan,  more  particu- 
larly to  the  scientific  branches  of  the  Imperial 
Tokio  University,  and  to  the  small  bevy  of  quiet, 
unassuming  men  who  foregather  at  the  little  Tokio 
Club,  the  foreign  advisers  still  left  in  the  various 
branches  of  the  Japanese  service.  Then  it  is  that 
you  realize,  for  the  first  time  to  its  full  extent,  the 
colossal  nature  of  the  work  carried  out  by  these 
men,  and  by  those  who  have  gone ; men  who  have 
given  their  best  energies  and  the  best  part  of 
their  lives  to  bringing  about  the  enlightened  Japan 
of  to-day ; and  you  have  reason  to  feel  proud  that 
many  of  them  are  countrymen  of  your  own.  For 
while  the  foreigner  is  no  longer  executive,  and,  in 

171 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 


fact,  in  most  cases  has  disappeared,  the  influence 
of  the  work  he  has  carried  out  so  thoroughly  and 
so  well  is  apparent  throughout  modern  industrial 
Japan. 

It  would,  of  course,  be  better  for  the  Japanese 
had  they  retained  the  foreigner  rather  longer  as  an 
active  director  in  their  factories,  for  signs  are  visible 
everywhere  that,  in  many  cases,  they  have  not  yet 
mastered  all  the  practical  details  of  the  work  they 
are  carrying  out.  The  Japanese  have  among  them 
many  capable  engineers  and  technical  men,  but 
their  thoroughly  skilled  labor,  in  many  branches,  is, 
and  must  be  for  many  years  to  come,  very  defective 
in  quality  and  quantity ; and  at  the  present  stage  it 
is  more  the  practical  foreman,  who  can  personally  in- 
struct the  common  laborer,  than  the  theoretical  man 
who  is  required. 

The  weak  point  in  the  Japanese  industrial  world, 
apart  from  the  limited  amount  of  skilled  labor  avail- 
able, is  to  be  found  in  the  fact  that  the  practical  side 
of  the  training  of  the  highly  educated  man  has  been 
more  neglected  than  any  other. 

In  England,  when  a young  man  leaves  his  tech- 
nical college  we  look  on  him  as  having  only  just 
gone  through  the  first  portion  of  his  training  as 
an  engineer,  electrician,  or  architect,  after  which  he 
is  expected  to  face  the  practical  drudgery  of  the 
workshops  or  drawing  - office,  as  the  case  may  be. 
The  Japanese  have  not  yet  grasped  the  fact  that  it 
is  in  no  sense  a degradation  for  the  man  who  has 
paid  for  an  education  which  has  enabled  him  to 

172 


MODERN  INDUSTRIAL  JAPAN 


master  the  theory  to  dirty  his  hands  in  acquiring 
the  practice. 

But  until  they  understand  this,  the  Japanese  will 
never  work  their  factories  to  the  best  advantage,  as 
the  heads  of  departments  will  never  fully  know  their 
business.  They  will  come  to  realize  this  fact  later 
on,  when  the  Tokio  University  and  kindred  institu- 
tions have  had  time  to  turn  out  a sufficient  number 
of  graduates  to  glut  the  professional  market. 

At  the  present  time,  the  demand  is  greater  than 
the  supply,  and  any  one,  on  leaving  college,  can  find 
himself  in  an  excellent  situation.  But  this  state  of 
things  will  not  last  very  much  longer. 

Wonderful  as  has  been  the  progress  of  the  Japan- 
ese in  manufacturing  by  modern  means,  the  state  of 
perfection  at  which  they  have  arrived  has  often  been 
grossly  exaggerated.  They  have  done  much,  very 
much  more  than  it  was  anticipated  that  they  could 
possibly  have  accomplished  in  so  short  a time,  but 
those  alarmists  who  talk  about  the  Japanese  being 
able  to  oust  us  from  the  world’s  markets  are  speak- 
ing without  their  book,  and  without  any  knowledge 
of  economics.  Such  people  have  usually  based  their 
argument  on  the  assumption  that  Japanese  wages 
are  still  so  low  that,  when  they  have  become  as  effi- 
cient as  we  are,  they  will  make  it  impossible  for  us 
to  compete  with  them. 

This  would  be  all  very  well,  if  there  were  a law  in 
Japan  that  for  the  next  fifty  years  wages  were  not  to 
be  raised  above  their  present  scale,  but  as  no  coun- 
try could  enforce  such  a law,  and  Japanese  wages 

*73 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 


are  going  up  by  leaps  and  bounds,  and  in  the  natural 
course  of  things  must  continue  to  do  so  as  time  goes 
on,  the  argument  does  not  hold  good. 

There  is  another  item  to,  be  reckoned  with  in 
studying  the  economics  of  Japanese  manufacturing, 
and  that  is  that  many  of  the  materials  employed  in 
their  modern  industries  are  much  more  expensive 
to  purchase  there  than  in  various  other  countries. 
Now,  as  the  Japanese  Government  have  fallen  into 
the  error  of  adopting  a rising  protective  tariff  on 
imported  goods,  the  cost  of  materials  stands  a good 
chance  of  being  enhanced  simultaneously  with  the 
price  of  labor. 

Thus,  with  regard  to  most  of  our  industries,  we 
may  rest  assured  that  we  shall  not  be  seriously 
threatened  for  many  years  to  come ; and  we  may, 
at  least  in  our  skilled  trades,  look  on  the  Japanese 
industrial  advance,  not  only  with  interest,  but  with 
competitive  complacency  as  far  as  our  markets  in 
other  countries  are  concerned. 

Among  the  modern  industries  worked  on  modern 
lines  which  the  Japanese  may  be  said  to  have  mas- 
tered in  a manner  which  would  enable  them  to  com- 
pete internationally,  the  following  trades  can  be 
mentioned:  coal-mining,  cotton  and  other  spinning, 
printing,  type-founding,  engraving,  photography,  in- 
strument-making, boot,  clothes,  and  match  making, 
brewing,  bread-making,  and  certain  branches  of  elec- 
trical work. 

I look  on  the  Japanese,  too,  as  being  good  rail- 
way engineers  in  many  respects,  though  there  is  a 

*74 


MODERN  INDUSTRIAL  JAPAN 


great  diversity  of  opinion  on  that  point.  As  manu- 
facturing engineers  they  are  not  yet  by  any  means 
proficient  on  any  large  scale,  and  I do  not  think  I 
am  going  too  far  in  saying  that  there  has  never 
been  made  in  Japan,  as  a commercial  success,  such 
a thing  as  a purely  Japanese  steam-engine. 

It  is  true  they  have  made  a few  extremely  good 
locomotives,  and  these  are  almost  the  most  difficult 
type  of  engine  to  be  made  by  beginners.  I am  told, 
too,  that  these  engines  came  out  advantageously  with 
regard  to  cost  price  as  compared  with  similar  ones 
imported  from  abroad.  But  while  the  construction 
of  such  engines  reflected  the  greatest  credit  on  the 
Japanese,  one  must  not  forget  that  they  were  turned 
out  under  the  direct  supervision  and  from  the  de- 
tailed designs  of  an  English  locomotive  superin- 
tendent. 

Of  modern  ships  of  from  1000  to  4000  tons,  both 
for  the  navy  and  mercantile  marine,  they  have  made 
many,  sometimes  under  European  control  and  some- 
times without  it,  and  such  ships  have  been  good  in 
quality ; but  most  of  the  intricate  mechanism  in 
their  construction  was  imported,  and  from  a com- 
mercial point  of  view  they  have  worked  out  much 
more  expensively  than  would  have  been  the  case 
had  they  been  purchased  from  abroad. 

Their  largest  effort  in  this  way  was  the  Hitachi 
Maru , launched  at  Nagasaki  last  year,  the  regis- 
tered capacity  of  which  was  6150  tons. 

In  engineering  and  ship-building,  however,  great 
progress  is  being  made,  and  although  the  Japanese 

US 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 


may  just  now  be  debiting  heavy  losses  to  their  in- 
experience account,  there  is  no  doubt  that  the  im- 
provement which  will  come  with  time  will  lead 
to  Japan  some  day  being  a large  engineering 
centre. 

Small -arms,  and  all  that  appertains  thereto,  are 
satisfactorily  made  entirely  under  Japanese  control 
at  the  arsenals.  They  have  not  yet,  however,  suc- 
ceeded in  turning  out  large  ordnance  as  efficiently 
as  it  is  done  in  China,  at  the  Kiangnan  Arsenal, 
near  Shanghai. 

I saw  in  a recent  book  by  a well-known  authority 
that  there  were  many  “steel  foundries”  in  Japan, 
but  I can  only  say  that  I failed  to  find  them.  One 
large  steel-works,  at  all  events,  is  in  the  process  of 
being  started,  but  the  Japanese  until  now  even  as 
iron  founders,  on  modern  lines,  have  not  been  very 
successful. 

Wood- working  by  machinery,  except  for  railway 
carriage  and  wagon  work,  they  have  only  just  com- 
menced on  any  large  scale,  and  they  have  not  yet 
mastered  the  intricacies  of  the  trade.  Although 
Japan  is  distinctly  a timber  country,  she  has  until 
lately  neglected  this  department  of  modern  industry; 
and  this  is  doubtless  due  in  a great  measure  to  the 
fact  that,  as  hand-workers  in  wood,  the  Japanese  are 
the  most  skilful  operators  in  the  world. 

The  building  up  of  iron  and  steel  structures,  such 
as  bridges,  turn-tables,  and  boilers,  from  imported 
girders  and  plates  is  very  creditably  carried  on ; and 
in  constructing  what  are  known  as  “ earthquake- 

176 


THE  NAGASAKI  SHIP-BUILDING  WORKS 


MODERN  INDUSTRIAL  JAPAN 

proof”  chimneys  made  of  sheet  steel  lined  with 
brick,  and  sometimes  200  feet  high,  they  are  very 
skilful. 

It  is  well  to  point  out  here  an  interesting  simi- 
larity between  the  evolution  of  the  industrial  prob- 
lem in  Japan  and  in  Great  Britain,  which  should  go 
some  way  to  prove  that  circumstances  have  decided 
that  the  destiny  of  that  country  is  to  be  worked  out 
on  British  lines. 

Years  ago,  one  may  almost  say  centuries  ago,  the 
preponderating  industry  of  Great  Britain  was  agri- 
culture. Long  since,  however,  we  have  given  up 
seriously  endeavoring  to  feed  ourselves,  and  have 
found  it  policy  to  allow  our  agriculture  to  go  to  the 
wall,  confining  our  industrial  policy  to  manufactur- 
ing only  those  products  which  afforded  us  the  great- 
est profit.  With  the  money  thus  obtained  we  have 
purchased  most  of  our  food  from  foreign  countries 
and  our  colonies. 

Japan,  too,  has  been  essentially  an  agricultural 
country,  but  now  on  a rapidly  declining  scale.  Per- 
haps it  would  be  more  accurate  to  say  that  year  by 
year  her  increased  modern  industries  are  absorbing 
the  labor  available  for  agricultural  purposes,  and  the 
value  of  manufactured  products  is  gradually  assum- 
ing the  upper  hand. 

Agriculture  still  slightly  preponderates  over  the 
manufactured  products,  but  I believe  at  the  present 
day  the  proportion  is  only  as  fifty-five  to  forty-five, 
whereas  a few  years  ago  agriculture  was  a very  long 
way  ahead. 


M 


177 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 


Japan  is  now  importing  her  staple -food  com- 
modity— rice — as  England  imports  her  corn. 

The  modern  industries  of  Japan  are  now  dotting 
themselves  about  all  over  the  country.  The  greatest 
centre  of  these  industries  is  undoubtedly  Osaka; 
omitting  of  course  Tokio,  which,  as  a city,  is  vastly 
more  extended,  and  in  which,  consequently,  the 
factories,  being  spread  over  a far  greater  area,  are 
not  so  self-evident.  Tokio,  at  all  events,  pulls  the 
industrial  strings  in  Japan. 

Osaka  now  may  be  said  to  be  fast  developing 
into  an  industrial  city  pure  and  simple;  and  this 
is  no  doubt  why  I have  heard  Englishmen  call  it 
the  Manchester,  and  Scotchmen  the  Glasgow,  and 
Frenchmen  the  Lille,  and  Germans  the  Hamburg* 
and  Americans  the  Chicago,  of  Japan. 

One  sees  of  course  the  idea  which  gave  birth  to 
these  respective  similes  ; and  yet  Osaka  is  not  in  the 
least  like  any  one  of  the  cities  mentioned,  and  never 
will  be;  for  the  individuality  of  the  Japanese  will 
always  be  strong  enough  to  prevent  the  possibility 
of  their  adopting  any  of  our  Western  methods  in 
their  entirety,  even  in  the  carrying  out  of  their  mod- 
ern industries. 


CHAPTER  XI 


THE  EFFECT  OF  THE  WAR  ON  FOREIGN  RELATIONS 

It  is  not  necessary  for  me  to  dwell  on  the  condition 
of  the  Japanese  before  their  war  with  China,  beyond 
recalling  the  fact  that  for  years  previous  to  that  event 
— that  is  to  say,  ever  since  the  abolition  of  the  Sho- 
gunate — they  had  been  absorbing  Western  education, 
and  adopting  such  of  our  modern  methods  as  they 
thought  desirable,  at  a rate  which  would  have  taken 
away  our  breath  had  we  realized  its  extent  at  the  time. 

Speaking  generally,  however,  the  outside  world  had 
no  idea  that  the  progress  which  was  being  made  by 
the  Japanese  was  of  a genuine  nature.  It  is  true 
that  we  heard  that  they  were  buying  many  things, 
endeavoring  to  copy  our  inventions,  and  generally 
burlesquing  our  methods.  I should,  of  course,  be 
plagiarizing  every  writer  who  had  touched  on  Japan 
during  the  last  five  years  if  I were  to  say  that  the 
Chino- Japanese  war  opened  the  eyes  of  the  foreigner 
to  the  fact  that,  at  all  events  as  far  as  strategy  was 
concerned,  the  Japanese  had  really  profited  by  their 
studies. 

The  complete  and  overwhelming  success  of  the 
Japanese,  however,  came  as  such  a shock  to  the  av- 
erage foreigner  that  he  has  been  wont  to  date  the 

179 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 


progress  of  Japan  from  that  time  only,  and  to  ignore 
the  steady  and  conscientious  educational  “ grind  ” 
which  the  people  of  that  country  had  been  under- 
going at  the  hands  of  their  European  and  American 
instructors  quietly  and  unostentatiously  for  the  five- 
and-twenty  years  which  preceded  that  event. 

We  are  told  that  before  the  war  the  Japanese  were 
diffident,  gentle,  and  courteous  to  the  foreigner,  that 
they  recognized  his  superiority,  and  so  on.  Now  it 
is  said  that  at  the  present  day  they  have  lost  all  these 
qualities,  and  that  they  are  bumptious  and  self-asser- 
tive. The  fact  of  the  matter  is  that,  until  the  war 
took  place,  the  Japanese  had  not  had  an  opportunity 
of  demonstrating  either  to  themselves  or  to  the  world 
in  general  the  headway  they  had  made.  In  fact,  it 
has  been  maintained  by  some  that  the  war  was  in 
a great  measure  brought  about  for  the  purpose  of 
making  a practical  demonstration  of  the  sort.  How- 
ever this  may  be,  it  only  stands  to  reason  that  their 
self-confidence,  which  had  always  been  a strong,  if  a 
dormant,  element  in  the  Japanese  character,  should 
become  emphasized,  or,  at  all  events,  be  much  more 
in  evidence  than  was  the  case  before  the  war. 

But,  as  victorious  countries  go,  Japan  behaved, 
even  immediately  after  the  war,  with  wonderful 
clear-headedness  and  tact.  Excesses  she  may  have 
committed  — excesses  of  exuberance,  excesses  of 
speech,  and  excesses  of  expenditure  — but  she  did 
not  lose  her  head,  and,  on  the  whole,  her  behavior 
after  her  victory  was  exemplary. 

It  has  been  my  lot  to  be  in  several  countries 

180 


H.I.H.  THE  LATE  PRINCE  ARISUGAWA 
Chief  of  the  General  Staff.  Died  during  the  war  with  China 

Photographed  by  Ogawa 


EFFECT  OF  WAR  ON  FOREIGN  RELATIONS 


shortly  after  wars,  revolutions,  and  political  up- 
heavals of  one  sort  or  another  had  taken  place, 
and  I can  only  say  that  I have  never  known  a vic- 
torious people  to  take  their  successes  so  modestly 
as  have  the  Japanese. 

Among  the  more  important,  and  certainly  the  least 
noticed,  effects  which  the  war  produced  on  Japan,  was 
the  turn  it  gave  to  Japanese  party-political  organiza- 
tion. It  is  not  necessary  to  emphasize  this  here,  as 
the  subject  is  more  fully  dealt  with  in  the  chapter  on 
“Politics  in  the  Past  and  Present.”  I would,  how- 
ever, mention  in  passing  that  the  patriotic  wave  of 
feeling  which  passed  over  the  country  at  the  time 
completely  swamped  the  hitherto  increasingly  an- 
tagonistic feelings  of  the  many  political  groups, 
which  were  threatening  the  existence  of  modern 
government  in  Japan,  and  brought  all  politicians 
into  one  camp  for  the  time  being. 

That  Russia,  France,  and  Germany  committed  a 
gross  act  of  injustice  to  Japan  in  combining  to  fetter 
her  action  in  China  at  the  close  of  the  war,  and  to 
rob  her  to  a great  extent  of  the  legitimate  spoils  of 
her  victory,  goes  without  saying.  England  has  cause 
to  be  thankful  that  she  did  not  aid  and  abet  that  un- 
holy triple  alliance.  Not  only  was  the  combined 
action  of  those  Powers  unjust  to  Japan,  but  it  was 
detrimental  to  the  interests  of  civilization ; for  Jap- 
anese political  influence  at  Peking  just  then  would 
have  been  the  most  healthy  and  efficacious  tonic 
that  could  possibly  have  been  administered  to  the 
sick  Chinaman. 

181 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 


It  has  been  proved  past  argument  that  Russian 
influence  in  the  Far  East  is  not  of  a civilizing  nature. 
Should  any  one  wish  to  compare  the  Russian  and 
Japanese  methods  of  civilization,  let  him  study  on 
the  one  hand  the  Russian  administration  in  the 
island  of  Saghalien,  from  which  the  Japanese  were 
ousted  in  1875  by  “treaty,”  and  on  the  other  the 
Japanese  administration  in  the  neighboring  islands. 
Let  him  compare  the  Russian  convict  prisons  in 
Saghalien  with  the  Japanese  prisons  in  Tokio.  Let 
him  compare  the  methods  of  the  Russians  at  Inasa 
(near  Nagasaki),  which  is  to  all  intents  and  purposes 
a Russian  concession,  with  those  of  the  Japanese  in 
any  part  of  their  own  country.  Let  him  compare 
the  primeval  and  degrading  galley-slave  system  in 
vogue  on  the  Russian  men-of-war  with  the  Japanese 
naval  discipline. 

Whatever  may  have  been  the  immediate  effect  of 
the  Franco- Germano  - Russian  action  in  checking 
Japanese  influence,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  in 
the  long-run  Japan  will  play  a strong,  if  not  a pre- 
ponderating, part  in  the  civilizing  of  China ; for  the 
Japanese  understand  the  Chinese  character  a great 
deal  better  than  is  the  case  with  the  people  of  any 
other  nation,  and  they  have  facilities  in  the  way  of 
possessing  a practically  identical  written  language,  a 
knowledge  of  which  Westerners  as  a class  cannot 
hope  to  attain.  In  addition  to  this  there  exists 
between  Japan  and  China  a racial  sympathy. 

When  once  China  has  been  really  civilized,  it  is 
not  probable  that  either  Japan  or  any  other  nation 

182 


EFFECT  OF  WAR  ON  FOREIGN  RELATIONS 


will  have  a great  deal  of  influence  with  her ; but  it  is 
reasonable  to  suppose  that  as  soon  as  that  process 
has  been  accomplished  China  and  Japan  will  be  found 
on  the  same  side  when  it  is  a question  of  facing  a 
common  Western  enemy.  That  date,  however,  is 
still  so  far  distant  that  it  would  be  futile  to  speculate 
as  to  its  probable  effect  now,  or  to  do  more  than 
point  out  in  passing  that  an  eventual  alliance  with 
China  in  the  dim  future  is  the  avowed  dream  of 
Japanese  politicians  of  to-day. 

Although  the  Japanese  appear  to  have  just  now 
an  undue  contempt  for  the  Chinese,  and  for  Chinese 
methods,  there  is  no  real  deep-rooted  hatred  of  the 
Chinaman.  There  is  none  of  that  feeling  of  violent 
animosity  such  as  exists,  for  instance,  between  France 
and  Germany,  Germany  and  Denmark,  Greece  and 
Turkey,  or  Russia  and  Finland. 

One  of  the  most  satisfactory  effects  of  the  war  has 
been  that  it  has  caused  the  Japanese  to  discriminate 
between  foreigners  to  some  extent;  for  until  then,  in 
the  same  ignorant  way  in  which  the  average  West- 
erner was  wont  to  look  on  a Japanese  as  being  a 
sort  of  Chinaman  without  a pigtail,  so  the  Japanese 
looked  upon  most  Europeans  and  Americans  as  be- 
ing a sort  of  Englishmen. 

As  Englishmen,  because  there  were  more  Eng- 
lishmen than  other  Western  foreigners  in  Japan, 
because  English  was  the  language  which  all  local 
foreigners  had  to  speak,  because  England  was  the 
country  with  which  most  international  commerce 
was  carried  on,  and  because  the  Japanese  saw  more 

183 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 

English  ships  than  those  of  all  other  nations  put 
together. 

The  power  of  discriminating  between  the  Western 
races,  which  has  of  late  years  come  to  the  Japanese, 
has  been,  on  the  whole,  greatly  to  the  advantage  of 
the  Anglo-Saxon. 

In  a general  way  the  Japanese  regarded  the  West- 
ern foreigner  as  a rough,  rude,  dictatorial,  and  im- 
moral man,  with  a long  nose  and  having  hair  all 
over  his  face ; who  was  always  making  a noise,  and 
was  addicted  to  intemperate  habits.  He  had,  how- 
ever, the  redeeming  features  of  being  very  rich,  and 
of  possessing  a wonderful  store  of  knowledge  on  a 
variety  of  subjects,  which,  when  mastered,  would  be 
invaluable  to  the  Japanese.  In  conversing  with  un- 
educated Japanese  it  will  be  found  that  the  same 
impression  holds  good  very  much  at  the  present 
day.  Grotesque  as  such  an  estimate  of  our  personal 
attractions  may  seem  to  us,  it  is  no  more  so  than 
some  of  the  impressions  we  have  held  of  the  Japan- 
ese; and  when  one  bears  in  mind  the  fact  that  our 
appearance  is  so  different  from  theirs,  that  the  man- 
ners of  our  most  gentlemanly  and  considerate  people 
appear  abrupt  to  them,  and  that  they  have  based 
their  ideas  of  us  on  the  roughest  and  noisiest  section 
of  the  foreign  community,  we  must  admit  that  their 
appreciation  of  our  individuality,  however  unflatter- 
ing and  inaccurate,  is  at  least  intelligible. 

International  politics  and  trade,  the  dissensions 
among  the  local  missionaries,  and  especially  the  dif- 
ferent attitudes  adopted  by  the  various  Powers  at 

184 


THE  MARQUIS  ITO 


Photographed  by  Ogawa 


EFFECT  OF  WAR  ON  FOREIGN  RELATIONS 


the  time  of  the  war  with  China,  have  caused  the  edu- 
cated classes  to  discover  the  fact  that  there  are  for- 
eigners and  foreigners.  And  among  these  foreigners 
for  the  last  year  or  two  the  Anglo-Saxons,  if  not 
liked  better,  are  at  all  events  more  respected  than 
the  rest,  as  explained  above.  The  reason  for  this  is, 
not  that  our  manners  are,  from  the  Japanese  point 
of  view,  better  than  those  of  other  foreigners,  for  as 
a matter  of  fact  they  often  consider  us  more  exact- 
ing and  dictatorial  than  the  others,  but  because  they 
are  beginning  to  realize  more  and  more  that,  as  far 
as  modern  institutions  go,  their  methods  must  be 
based  on  our  methods.  They  find  that  in  the  long- 
run  their  trade  with  Great  Britain  and  America 
runs  more  smoothly  than  with  other  countries,  and 
they  know  more  where  they  are  when  dealing  with 
us  than  they  do  with  our  Continental  brethren. 
They  find  also  that,  if  we  do  not  make  many  social 
or  business  concessions  to  them,  we  at  all  events  do 
not  bother  them  in  their  politics,  and,  above  all,  we 
do  not  use  our  diplomatic  organization  as  a sort  of 
commercial  agency  to  force  trade  into  British  chan- 
nels. 

The  comparative  popularity  of  Great  Britain  with 
the  Japanese,  dates,  of  course,  more  particularly,  from 
the  close  of  the  war.  Very  little  distinction  is  still 
made  between  Americans  and  Englishmen  in  the 
minds  of  the  Japanese,  and  incidentally  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  owes  much  of  his  present  popularity  to  the 
American  branch  of  that  race,  for  the  Americans 
have,  as  a rule,  been  more  intimate  with  the  Japan- 

185 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 


ese,  and  in  dealing  with  them  have  been  less  unbend- 
ing in  their  attitude  than  we  have. 

For  a short  period  in  1897,  when  the  Hawaiian 
question  was  first  on  the  tapis , the  Japanese  ex- 
pressed a great  deal  of  resentment  against  the  Unit- 
ed States,  but  this  was  mainly  due  to  the  fact  that 
America  did  not  show  a great  deal  of  political  tact 
in  dealing  with  the  question;  and,  although  Japan 
had  never  any  serious  wish  to  annex  the  islands, 
she  no  doubt  resented  very  much  some  of  the  ex- 
pressions made  use  of  by  politicians  in  Washington 
with  regard  to  herself.  At  about  the  same  time,  a 
very  material  rise  in  the  American  tariff,  with  regard 
to  certain  articles  which  directly  and  very  serious- 
ly affected  Japanese  exports  to  that  country,  added 
fuel  to  the  resentment  against  the  United  States, 
but  such  resentment  was  not  very  long-lived. 

Germany’s  influence  in  Japan,  which  during  the 
Bismarck  era  was  strong — so  strong,  in  fact,  that  a 
portion  of  the  railways  were  built  by  Germans  on 
the  German  system,  and  even  Japanese  women 
made  a trial  of  discarding  their  picturesque  costume 
in  favor  of  the  most  hideous  ready-made  apparel 
imported  from  the  Fatherland — is  on  the  decline. 
In  fact,  the  railway  in  question  has  been  reorgan- 
ized, and  is  now  worked  on  the  British  principle, 
and  the  ladies  have  reverted  to  their  national  dress. 

And  yet  it  would  seem  that  the  Germans  are  doing 
a thriving  trade  with  Japan ; and,  if  we  are  to  believe 
the  consular  statistics,  their  trade  is  increasing.  But 
figures  are  strange  things  to  deal  in,  and,  when 

186 


EFFECT  OF  WAR  ON  FOREIGN  RELATIONS 


studying  the  German  trade  reports,  we  have  to  face 
the  complications  caused  by  the  fact  that,  in  order 
to  make  both  ends  meet  at  all,  most  of  the  local 
German  traders  have  to  handle  British  goods ; and 
not  only  this,  but  they  have  to  pass  off  much  of  their 
native  produce  as  being  of  British  make,  even  when 
to  do  so  the  goods  in  question  have  to  be  shipped 
from  England. 

The  Latin  races  are  not  numerous  in  Japan,  and 
their  influence  is  almost  nil  at  the  present  day,  ex- 
cept that,  if  any  Christian  missionaries  can  be  said 
to  make  headway  at  all  among  the  Japanese,  they 
are  the  French  Jesuits. 

The  Dutch,  who  centuries  ago  were  the  most 
powerful  of  all  foreigners  in  Japan,  and  used  their 
power  to  have  other  foreigners  massacred,  are  no 
longer  to  be  reckoned  with  at  all. 

Russia,  of  course,  as  a nation,  is  cordially  detested 
by  the  Japanese,  although  Russian  residents  are  on 
good  enough  terms  with  the  people.  There  is  al- 
ways, however,  a lingering  thought  in  the  minds  of 
the  Japanese  that  a Russian  visitor  is  a spy;  for,  as 
a Japanese  friend  of  mine  put  it,  who  had  himself 
seen  the  inside  of  a Russian  prison  for  making  some 
sketches  of  fortifications  in  that  country,  “the  Rus- 
sians have  no  business  interests  in  Japan,  and  it 
cannot  pay  them  to  come  and  live  here  for  the  pur- 
poses of  business.” 

Russian  methods  do  not  in  any  possible  way  ap- 
peal to  the  Japanese,  and,  although  Russia  is  Japan’s 
nearest  neighbor,  the  Japanese  assimilate  less  of 

i87 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 


Russia  in  their  process  of  modernizing  their  country 
than  of  any  other  nation.  And  yet  Russia’s  in- 
' fluence  is  directly  and  powerfully  felt,  for  had  it  not 
been  the  fixed  conviction  that  Russia  was  the  nat- 
ural and  persistent  enemy  of  Japan  the  latter  Power 
would  not  have  seen  the  necessity  of  developing  her 
defensive  equipment  to  anything  like  the  extent  she 
has  done  in  so  short  a time. 

I have  often  heard  it  said  that  since  the  war,  and 
especially  during  the  last  two  years,  Japan  has  been 
“spoiling  for  a fight”;  that  it  did  not  much  matter 
who  the  enemy  might  be,  but  that  she  was  consumed 
with  an  ardent  desire  to  “ have  a go  for  ” somebody 
or  other.  I am  bound  to  say  that  during  the  time  I 
was  living  in  Japan  I never  saw  any  sign  of  the  sort 
of  feverish  unrest  which  usually  characterizes  a nation 
imbued  with  that  idea.  No  doubt,  if  England  had 
seen  fit  to  suggest  a hostile  co-operation  against 
Russian  aggression  in  China  at  the  beginning  of 
last  year  (1898),  Japan  would  have  cordially  fallen  in 
with  such  a measure.  There  are  no  doubt  many 
who  might  have  criticised  her  policy  had  she  done 
so,  but  she  would  not  have  been  acting  in  a reckless 
manner.  She  would  have  been  following  out  a line 
of  action  which  she  hoped  might  afford  a means  tow- 
ards the  end  which  she  had  mapped  out  for  herself 
in  the  future. 

Japan’s  ambition  is  eventually  to  hold  the  same 
position  in  Eastern  Asia  as  England  does  in  West- 
ern Europe;  and  to  effect  this  will  be  the  beginning 
and  the  end  of  Japanese  foreign  policy  for  many 

188 


EFFECT  OF  WAR  ON  FOREIGN  RELATIONS 


years  to  come.  In  Russia  she  recognizes  the  Power 
who  is  more  likely  than  all  the  others  to  put  ob- 
stacles in  her  path,  and,  from  the  Japanese  point  of 
view,  it  is  Russia  whose  action  should  be  thwarted. 
Those  nations,  therefore,  whose  interests  are  at  the 
greatest  degree  of  divergence  from  those  of  Russia 
are  consequently,  for  the  time  being,  Japan’s  great- 
est friends. 

I have  not  endeavored  to  enumerate  in  detail  here  all 
the  effects  that  the  war  with  China  has  had  on  Japan, 
as  many  of  these  become  self-evident  in  the  subjects 
dealt  with  in  other  chapters.  To  sum  the  matter 
up,  however,  the  grand  result  of  it  has  been  that  the 
official  seal  of  approval  has  been  placed  by  the 
nations  of  the  world  on  the  fact  that  Japan  was  to  be 
reckoned  with  as  a Power  who,  within  measurable 
time,  would  have  a right  to  be  considered  as  one  of 
the  civilized  nations  of  the  world. 

After  the  victory  over  the  Chinese  by  force  of 
arms,  Japan  scored  a diplomatic  victory  over  the 
civilized  world  by  successfully  applying  for  a revi- 
sion of  her  treaties  with  foreign  Powers ; and  Great 
Britain  may  congratulate  herself  as  having  been  the 
first  of  these  to  accede  to  Japan’s  request.  If,  on  the 
one  hand,  we  may  congratulate  ourselves  on  having 
done  so,  we  have  every  reason,  on  the  other,  to 
blame  ourselves  for  the  slipshod  manner  in  which 
we  did  it.  For,  as  explained  in  the  chapter  on  “ Our 
Prospects  Under  the  Revised  Treaties,”  the  interests 
of  our  fellow-countrymen  in  Japan  were  not  proper- 
ly studied  in  the  contract  we  made  with  Japan,  as 

189 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 


signed  by  Lord  Kimberley.  In  fact,  we  have  to 
thank  other  countries,  who  subsequently  effected 
treaties  with  Japan,  for  such  redeeming  features  as 
the  last  of  them  contained  in  favor  of  the  foreigner. 
And  we  can  safely  say  that  had  some  country 
other  than  Great  Britain  taken  the  initiative  with 
regard  to  treaty  revision,  the  position  of  the  foreigner 
in  Japan  would  be  better  than  it  is  to-day;  for  we 
should  have  realized  the  weak  points  in  the  treaties 
of  the  other  Powers,  and  should  have  taken  some 
trouble  to  insist  on  certain  modifications  when  our 
turn  came. 


CHAPTER  XII 


POLITICS  IN  THE  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

Japanese  internal  politics  in  their  present  form 
are  so  kaleidoscopic  that  I shall  not  endeavor  to  do 
more  than  sketch  a general  outline  of  the  manner 
in  which  the  country  is  governed  at  the  present 
time  under  the  Constitutional  regime.  Were  I to 
particularize  in  detail  the  different  political  cliques, 
with  their  varying  shades  of  opinion,  or  were  I to 
name  a great  number  of  the  statesmen  beyond  those 
who  stand  out  in  a striking  manner,  the  reader  would 
be  hopelessly  confused ; and,  what  is  worse,  any  re- 
marks I might  make  would  very  soon  be  out  of  date. 

The  ephemeral  nature  of  Japanese  political  news 
was  impressed  on  me  most  vividly  when  I had  oc- 
casion to  send  articles  from  Tokio  on  that  subject 
to  a London  paper.  Writing  under  such  conditions, 
the  foreign  correspondent  in  that  part  of  the  world 
does  not  see  his  handiwork  in  print  for  at  least  three 
months  after  it  has  been  written  and  despatched  to 
London ; and  on  more  than  one  occasion,  in  perus- 
ing my  political  articles  after  a lapse  of  twelve  or 
fourteen  weeks,  I experienced  the  unpleasant  sensa- 
tion of  finding  that  what  I was  reading  had  been 
deprived  of  its  point  by  later  events. 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 


Again,  I find  that  though  barely  a year  has 
elapsed  since  I left  Japan,  the  names  are  cropping 
up  of  politicians  who,  if  known  locally  during  my 
time,  had  given  up  till  then  but  little  proof  of  their 
capacity.  Some  of  these  will  doubtless  make  a last- 
ing name  for  themselves,  but  most  of  them  are 
merely  here  to-day  and  will  be  gone  to-morrow,  and 
of  such  it  is  as  well  not  to  write;  for,  under  these 
conditions,  anything  more  than  an  outline  study  of 
the  details  of  party  politics  in  Japan  could  be  of  but 
little  interest. 

Looking  back  to  an  article  I wrote  from  Tokio  in 
November,  1896,  I find  I said: 

“ One  of  the  most  important  effects  of  the  war 
between  China  and  Japan  has  been  the  simplifying 
of  Japanese  politics.  In  this  respects,  at  all  events, 
the  war  has  proved  itself  an  unmixed  blessing  to 
this  country,  in  drawing  together  the  very  numerous 
political  cliques,  which  were  daily  increasing  in  num- 
ber and  in  bitterness  of  feeling  against  each  other. 
Had  it  not  been  for  the  outburst  of  patriotic  enthu- 
siasm which  swept  Japan  at  that  time,  nothing  could 
have  amalgamated  these  small  opposing  parties, 
whose  actions  were  rapidly  bringing  about  so  com- 
plicated a political  tangle  that  a dead-lock  must  have 
shortly  ensued.” 

This  was  perfectly  true  at  the  time;  and,  as  a 
record  of  events,  is  perfectly  true  now.  But  whereas 
in  1896  and  1897  there  was  a distinct  reason  for 
going  into  that  question,  it  has  lost  much  of  its 
point  now.  At  that  time  “ the  outburst  of  patriotic 

192 


POLITICS  PAST  AND  PRESENT 


enthusiasm  ” referred  to,  occasioned  by  the  war  of 
1894,  still  made  itself  felt  in  the  Japanese  political 
world,  and  held  contending  parties  more  or  less  to- 
gether ; whereas,  at  the  present  day,  the  strength  of 
that  wave  of  feeling  has  spent  itself. 

Japan  has  had  to  draw  in  her  financial  horns,  and 
unanimity  of  political  feeling  has  disappeared.  It 
is  not  that  the  Japanese  are  less  patriotic  now  than 
they  were,  but  the  enthusiasm  which  necessarily  fol- 
lows a successful  war  has  in  a great  measure  sub- 
sided; and,  in  measure  as  it  has  done  so,  the  petty 
jealousies  of  party  politicians,  effectually  smothered 
for  the  time  being,  have  emerged  from  their  hid- 
ing-places and  resumed  their  activity.  Thus  it  is 
that  just  now  political  cliques  are  as  numerous  and 
as  diversified  in  their  views  as  they  were  before  the 
war. 

Before  dealing  with  politics  as  they  are,  it  is  as 
well  to  run  over  briefly  the  facts  that  led  up  to  the 
present  state  of  things;  and  in  criticising  Japanese 
methods  of  the  present  day,  we  must  not  lose  sight 
of  the  extraordinary  fact  that  in  less  than  thirty 
years  Japan  has  run  through  all  the  political  phases 
which  lie  between  feudalism  of  the  most  uncom- 
promising order  and  a Constitutional  Government 
on  modern  principles. 

It  would  have  been  too  much  to  expect  that  so 
rapid  and  extensive  a series  of  transformations  could 
have  been  effected  without  entailing  grave  political 
errors,  and  delicate  situations  of  many  sorts.  But 
the  most  remarkable  feature  of  it  all  is  that  during 

193 


N 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 


the  whole  of  the  period  in  question  only  one  really 
serious  internal  conflict  took  place — viz.,  the  Satsuma 
Rebellion  in  1877. 

On  the  subject  of  this  terrible  struggle,  which 
took  the  form  of  a revolt  of  the  most  powerful  clan 
in  Japan  against  the  modernizing  influences  which 
were  at  work  in  the  country,  and  an  endeavor  to  re- 
instate the  old  order  of  things,  it  is  only  necessary 
to  say  that  it  was  eventually  suppressed,  and  its  sup- 
pression drove  home  the  last  nail  in  the  coffin  of 
Japanese  feudalism. 

One  of  the  features  which  marked  what  is  gener- 
ally known  in  Japan  as  the  Restoration  — that  is  to 
say,  the  abolition  of  the  Shogunate,  in  1867 — was 
an  oath  taken  by  the  Mikado,  on  the  occasion  of  his 
becoming  vested  once  more  with  absolute  power,  to 
the  effect  that  a popular  Diet  should  be  established 
in  Japan. 

The  procrastination  in  giving  effect  to  the  promise 
conveyed  by  this  oath,  and  the  differences  of  opin- 
ion as  to  the  actual  meaning  to  be  conveyed  by  it, 
eventually  led  to,  or  at  all  events  afforded  an  excuse 
for,  very  serious  political  complications. 

After  the  abolition  of  the  Shogunate  the  Govern- 
ment had  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  Samurai, 
who,  while  still  belonging  to  the  better  classes,  and 
possessing  in  some  measure  old-time  instincts,  were 
more  enterprising  and  enlightened  than  their  pred- 
ecessors, and  whose  programme  embraced  from  the 
first  the  modernizing  of  Japan.  Things  began  to  go 
too  fast,  however,  for  certain  of  the  members  of  the 


194 


POLITICS  PAST  AND  PRESENT 


Cabinet,  who  were  strongly  anti  - foreign  in  their 
feelings,  and  eventually  their  antagonism  to  the  pro- 
gressive policy  brought  about  the  Satsuma  Re- 
bellion. 

But,  previously  to  this,  serious  dissensions  had 
arisen  in  the  Ministry  between  the  Progressists 
themselves.  In  the  opinion  of  some  politicians,  the 
reforms  were  not  sufficiently  sweeping  or  rapid. 
This  led  to  Count  Itagaki,  who  may  be  described 
as  the  first  real  Radical  in  Japan,  and  certain  of 
his  followers  separating  themselves  from  their  col- 
leagues, and  forming  a party  of  malcontents  on  their 
own  account.  This  group  of  politicians  has  now 
developed  into  one  of  the  great  contending  parties 
of  the  present  day,  the  Juyu-to , or  “ Liberal  Party.” 

This  was  the  first  split  in  the  Cabinet,  and  took 
place  in  1873,  and  although  prompt  measures  were 
taken  for  the  suppression  of  Count  Itagaki’s  follow- 
ers, by  imprisonment  and  banishment,  and  although 
at  that  time  the  policy  of  these  ultra- radicals  was 
destructive  only,  the  party  thrived  and  attained  con- 
siderable moral  influence,  though  entirely  devoid  of 
actual  power.  The  strong  individuality  and  honesty 
of  purpose  of  Count  Itagaki,  whose  political  enemies 
did  not  accuse  him  of  being  anything  worse  than 
a dangerously  progressive  man,  were  sufficiently 
weighty  to  out-balance  the  amount  of  discredit  from 
which  his  party  suffered  on  account  of  the  actions 
of  some  hangers-on  of  doubtful  reputation. 

In  1881,  however,  another  split  occurred  in  the 
Cabinet,  the  leading  dissentient  being  Count 

J95 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 


Okuma.  His  party  adopted  the  policy  of  insist- 
ing on  the  establishing  of  a popular  Diet,  main- 
taining that  the  Mikado’s  oath  of  1867  clearly 
promised  that  such  an  institution  should  be  forth- 
coming, and  that  the  time  had  now  arrived  for  its 
realization.  This  party,  known  as  the  Kaishin-to , 
or  “ Party  of  Progress,”  was  in  many  ways  as  radical 
in  its  leanings  as  the  original  “Party  of  Liberty”; 
but  although  in  a great  measure  the  aims  of  these 
two  bodies  were  identical,  they  were  absolutely  hos- 
tile to  each  other  in  their  working.  This  was  mainly 
due  to  the  fact  that  the  individual  ambitions  of  the 
leaders  would  not  allow  these  gentlemen  to  make 
concessions  to  a rival  political  party. 

In  fighting  his  battle  with  the  Government,  how- 
ever, Count  Okuma  overrated  his  strength,  with  the 
result  that  he  had  to  retire  from  the  Cabinet,  in 
which  he  then  held  the  position  of  Minister  of  Fi- 
nance. Many  followed  him,  and  thus  three  distinct 
parties  were  in  existence  in  1882 — viz.,  the  Govern- 
ment, at  the  head  of  which  were  Marquis  Ito  and 
Count  Inouye;  the  “ Party  of  Progress,”  with  Count 
Okuma ; and  the  “ Party  of  Liberty,”  with  Count 
Itagaki,  as  their  respective  leaders. 

But  while  these  two  latter  parties  were  at  daggers 
drawn  with  each  other,  their  combined  moral  power, 
which  was  always  in  antagonism  to  the  Government, 
was  so  great  that  it  sufficed  to  wring  from  the  Em- 
peror a rescript  to  the  effect  that  a Diet  should  be 
formed,  not  immediately,  but  in  1890.  In  due  time 
the  Diet  was  constituted,  and  took  the  form  of  a 

196 


COUNT  INOUYE 


POLITICS  PAST  AND  PRESENT 


Lower  House,  all  the  members  of  which  were,  nom- 
inally at  all  events,  elected  by  popular  vote ; and 
an  Upper  House,  some  members  of  which  sat 
by  right  of  nobility,  while  others  were  nominated 
by  the  Emperor,  and  others  by  certain  large  tax- 
payers. 

Ministers,  however,  had  nothing  whatever  to  do 
with  either  House,  although  they  had  the  right  of 
speaking  but  not  of  voting.  They  were  responsible 
only  to  the  Emperor,  and  could,  if  they  thought  it 
advisable,  ignore  the  Diet  completely.  Hitherto 
the  masses  in  Japan  had  taken  no  interest  whatever 
in  politics,  and  at  the  present  day  the  amount  of 
interest  taken  by  them  is  very  small  compared  with 
the  political  fever  which  rages  among  the  lower 
classes  in  more  advanced  countries. 

But  even  the  moneyed,  industrial,  and  commercial 
classes  had  had  no  part,  active  or  otherwise,  in  fram- 
ing the  laws  or  influencing  the  policy  of  their  coun- 
try previously  to  the  forming  of  the  Parliament. 
The  immediate  effect  of  the  new  Constitution  was 
that  the  Lower  House  at  once  became  thronged 
in  tolerably  equal  measure  with  partisans  of  the 
“ Party  of  Liberty  ” and  the  “ Party  of  Progress 
while  the  Government,  beneath  whose  dignity  it 
was  to  canvass,  was  left  out  in  the  cold. 

The  following  table  serves  to  show  the  relative 
proportions  of  the  various  classes  of  society  who 
went  to  make  up  the  members  of  the  Imperial  Diet 
from  1890,  the  first  year,  until  1897,  the  eighth 
year  of  the  Constitutional  regime : 

T97 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 


Year. 

Agricultural. 

Mercantile. 

Members  of 
Commercial 
Firms  and 
Banks. 

Barristers 
and  Public 
Notaries. 

Journalists. 

Physicians. 

Government 

Officials. 

Industrials. 

Miscellane- 

ous. 

1890  .... 

144 

12 

14 

24 

12 

3 

27 

IO 

5 

1892  .... 

175 

15 

15 

21 

IO 

3 

8 

8 

5 

1894  .... 

00 

15 

l6 

24 

l6 

1 

3 

7 

6 

ON 

00 

156 

30 

13 

18 

II 

1 

5 

1 

3 

From  the  above  it  will  be  seen  that  the  agricult- 
ural element  has  predominated  in  a very  marked 
degree  from  the  first,  and  that,  generally  speaking, 
it  has  maintained  its  lead ; that  mercantile  firms 
have  increased;  and  commercial,  industrial,  and  pro- 
fessional members,  and  Government  officials,  have 
declined  in  numbers. 

Mr.  Yoshito  Okuda,  who  was  Chief  Secretary  of 
the  House  of  Representatives,  criticises  the  prac- 
tical working  of  the  Constitutional  Government  of 
Japan  in  the  following  words: 

“Since  the  promulgation  of  our  Constitution,  no  Cabinet  has 
been  organized  without  a declaration  of  its  platform ; and  no  Cabi- 
net was  ever  in  power  but  what  failed  to  act  up  to  its  declara- 
tion. But  that  failure  was  passed  over  by  the  people,  as  if  not 
deserving  of  serious  consideration.  No  political  party  ever  was 
organized  here  that  did  not  issue  their  manifesto,  but  they  never 
carried  out  their  programme.  Still  the  people  did  not  blame  them 
for  this  failure.  Again,  the  members  of  the  Diet  held  out  some 
pledges  to  their  electors,  but  their  pledges  were  never  fulfilled. 
Still  society  passed  that  over  without  a reproach. 

“ We  are  in  a period  of  transition,  and  it  is  this  fact  that  makes 
the  smooth  working  of  the  Constitutional  Government  difficult  at 
present  in  this  country.  The  fault  of  the  present  state  of  affairs  is 
not  to  be  attributed  to  the  form  of  government,  but  to  the  state  of 
society  at  large. 


198 


OFFICE  OF  THE  KOKUM1N  SHIMBUN  ( THE  NA  TION,  A DAILY  PAPER),  TOKIO 


POLITICS  PAST  AND  PRESENT 


“ There  is  another  fact  that  impedes  the  smooth  progress  of  Con- 
stitutional Government.  It  is  the  want  of  a proper  balance  in  the 
distribution  of  wealth  and  education.  In  other  words,  the  present 
condition  of  our  society  is  such  that  the  moneyed  class  in  general 
are  at  a discount  in  point  of  education,  while  the  intellectually  de- 
veloped are  mostly  deficient  in  wealth.” 


From  the  above  it  may  be  gathered  that  the  po- 
litical situation  in  Japan  just  now  is  chaotic  in  the 
extreme ; and  when  we  consider  the  short  time  dur- 
ing which  the  present  form  of  government  has  been 
running,  it  is  hardly  to  be  expected  that  it  should 
have  been  otherwise. 

The  full  number  of  members  of  the  Diet  is  three 
hundred,  and  they  are  paid  a yearly  salary  of  about 
£So. 

Suffrage  in  Japan  is  by  no  means  universal  at  the 
present  day,  as  the  following  list  of  the  qualifications 
of  voters  will  show : 

1.  Male  subjects  of  the  Empire  of  Japan,  aged  full  twenty-five 
years  and  upward. 

2.  Those  who  are  registered  in  the  census  of,  and  have  been  re- 
siding in,  the  city  or  prefecture  for  full  one  year  before  the  com- 
pletion of  the  list  of  electors. 

3.  Those  who  have  been  paying  in  the  city  or  prefecture  a direct 
national  tax  of  fifteen  yen  and  upward  per  year  for  full  one  year 
before  the  completion  of  the  electoral  list,  and  are  still  continuing 
to  pay  the  same  ; and  in  case  of  income-tax,  those  who  have  been 
paying  the  above  stated  sum  for  full  three  years  before  the  com- 
pletion of  the  electoral  list,  and  are  still  continuing  to  pay  the  same. 


Chamberlain  estimates,  presumably  under  the 
above  regulations,  that  the  number  of  qualified  vot- 
ers in  Japan  amounts  to  only  “ a little  over  one  per 
cent,  of  the  whole  population.”  I think  this  esti- 
mate is  unduly  low. 


99 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 


Violently  hostile  to  each  other  as  were  the  con- 
flicting parties  who  went  to  make  up  the  Lower 
House,  their  common  war-cry  of  “ Down  with  the 
Government  ” at  times  enabled  them  to  pull  together 
more  or  less  ; but  while,  as  above  explained,  the  Gov- 
ernment were  practically  unrepresented  in  the  popu- 
lar Diet,  the  nature  of  the  formation  of  the  Upper 
House  practically  assured  to  the  Government  a ma- 
jority there  ; and,  as  the  Higher  assembly  could  veto 
any  objectionable  measure  passed  in  the  Lower,  the 
position  of  the  Government  was  practically  so  strong 
that  one  might  have  thought  that  nothing  but  a revo- 
lution could  overthrow  it.  But  the  existence  of  a 
popular  Parliament,  even  under  these  conditions, 
made  itself  felt  from  the  first ; and  freedom  of  speech, 
which  was  granted  simultaneously  with  the  opening 
of  the  Diet,  furnished  another  strong  weapon  in  the 
hands  of  the  Commoners. 

While  both  Radical  parties  were  clamoring  for 
the  destruction  of  the  Government,  neither  of  them 
had  formulated  any  distinct  policy  to  replace  the 
existing  methods.  It  was  at  this  time  that  numerous 
other  cliques  were  formed  by  dissentients  from  the 
“ Liberty  ” and  “ Progress  ” parties,  and  matters  be- 
gan to  get  very  complicated,  the  more  so  as  every 
political  party  that  sprang  up  had  to  be  formally 
registered,  after  which  it  was  forbidden  by  law  to 
co-operate  with  any  other  party. 

This  was  how  matters  stood  at  the  commence- 
ment of  the  war  with  China ; a Parliament  without 
a programme,  and  divided  against  itself  in  every 


200 


THE  OFFICE  OF  THE  NICHI  NICHI  SHIMBUN  ( DAY-BY-DAY  NEWSPAPER),  TOKIO 


POLITICS  PAST  AND  PRESENT 


conceivable  way,  except  on  the  principle  of  thwart- 
ing the  Government  on  all  occasions.  There  is  no 
doubt  that  the  Chinese  diplomatists  in  entering  upon 
their  war  with  Japan  counted  very  considerably  on 
the  unworkable  state  of  Japanese  politics  to  facilitate 
the  overthrow  of  that  country. 

On  the  declaration  of  war,  however,  the  whole  of 
these  differences  disappeared  as  if  by  magic,  and  the 
first  practical  proof  of  this  was  afforded  when  the 
Government  at  Iroshima  asked  the  Diet  in  1894 
for  a grant  of  200,000,000  yen,  and  shortly  after  for 
another  100,000,000  yen  for  war  expenditure,  and  both 
sums  were  accorded  without  a single  dissentient  voice. 

The  war  taught  Japan  for  the  time  being  the 
necessity  of  unity  in  politics  on  broad  lines,  and  its 
effect  was  sufficiently  great  to  cause  the  “ Party  of 
Liberty  ” to  formulate  a policy  and  to  make  over- 
tures to  support  the  Government  on  a mutual  basis 
of  concession,  and  thus  it  was  that  the  strong  com- 
bination was  formed  between  the  followers  of  Count 
Itagaki  and  the  Government,  as  represented  by 
Marquis  Ito  and  Count  Inouye. 

Count  Okuma,  however,  who  is  looked  upon  by 
many  as  the  strongest  statesman  in  the  country,  and 
is  certainly  the  most  uncompromising  and  unbend- 
ing in  carrying  out  his  policy,  reverted  after  the  war 
to  his  hostile  attitude  towards  the  Government,  and 
strengthened  the  hands  of  his  “ Party  of  Progress  ” 
by  coalescing  with  five  other  cliques,  who  collectively 
took  the  title  Shimpo-to,  which  literally  translated 
means  the  “ Party  of  the  Step  Forward.” 


201 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 


In  1896  Count  Okuma  succeeded  in  ousting  the 
Marquis  Ito,  and  placing  this  best  known  of  Jap- 
anese politicians  in  Opposition  for  the  first  time 
since  the  abolition  of  feudalism. 

Count  Okuma  strengthened  his  position  by  con- 
ciliating the  party  known  as  the  Kokumin-to,  or 
“ National  Party,”  of  whom  the  best  known  leader 
was  the  Marquis  Saigo. 

This  combination  of  cliques  held  the  reins  of 
Government  for  about  a year  with  Count  Matsukata 
as  its  nominal  head.  Before  its  dissolution,  how- 
ever, many  changes  took  place,  the  most  notable  of 
which  was  the  resignation  of  Count  Okuma,  who 
was  the  real  motive  power. 

Shortly  after  his  resignation  I had  the  opportunity 
of  a long  interview  with  his  Excellency  at  his  house, 
on  the  political  situation  generally;  and  while  the 
greater  portion  of  our  conversation  had  to  do  with 
international  rather  than  with  home  politics,  I was 
particularly  struck  with  his  summing  up  of  the  ques- 
tion as  to  the  difference  between  the  working  of  a 
Constitutional  Government  in  Japan  and  in  Great 
Britain. 

“Your  statesmen,”  said  Count  Okuma  in  effect, 
“ are  representing  an  electorate  who  have  a definite 
and  material  point  of  view.  The  electorate  is  the 
force  which  guides  them  in  their  actions,  and  your 
politicians  are  merely  the  exponents  of  the  convic- 
tions which  go  to  make  up  that  force.  Your  states- 
men are  pushed  in  their  actions  by  that  irresistible 
power.  Your  Salisbury  and  your  Gladstone,  whether 


202 


POLITICS  PAST  AND  PRESENT 


in  power  or  in  opposition,  are  well  aware  that  their 
actions  are  backed  by  a real  and  solid  community, 
and  in  consequence  they  can  accomplish  great  things. 
We  in  Japan  have  not  arrived  at  that  stage.  The 
people  as  a power  are  not  yet  behind  our  statesmen. 
We  must  act  on  our  own  initiative,  and,  however 
good  our  policy  may  be,  it  lacks  the  practical  sup- 
port of  a large  section  of  the  people,  that  great 
moral  force  on  which  British  statesmen  can  rely. 
As  we  have  no  general  following,  so  we  have  no 
solid  and  popular  Opposition,  and  in  this  we  are 
unfortunate;  for  it  is  the  existence  of  a powerful 
Opposition  which  calls  forth  the  best  qualities  in  a 
statesman.” 

This  was  towards  the  end  of  1897,  since  which 
time  Ministerial  changes  have  been  frequent. 

At  the  present  day  the  Marquis  Ito  and  Count 
Itagaki  are  in  power,  and,  all  things  considered, 
this  powerful  combination  is  perhaps  the  most  sat- 
isfactory one  for  the  country  in  these  days  of  transi- 
tion. 

In  years  to  come,  possibly  before  many  years  have 
passed,  with  the  growth  of  education,  Japanese  states- 
men may  obtain  that  popular  support  from  the 
masses,  which  will  only  be  forthcoming  when  the 
lower  classes  are  in  a position  to  understand  politics 
in  some  measure. 

What  the  popular  verdict  will  be  when  that  time 
comes  one  cannot  tell.  Will  the  existence  of  a popu- 
lar voice  improve  matters  or  the  reverse?  Will  the 
masses  who  now  accept  blindly  the  actions  of  their 

203 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 


leaders  be  able  to  formulate  a policy  which  will  be 
any  improvement  on  that  laid  down  by  the  individu- 
ality of  the  chief  men  in  the  State,  as  at  present? 
One  cannot  say. 

Meanwhile  Japan  is  lucky  to  possess  at  the  head 
of  her  affairs  men  like  Ito,  Okuma,  Saigo,  Inouye, 
and  Itagaki  in  these  transition  days. 

Whatever  may  be  the  defects  in  the  early  work- 
ing of  a Constitutional  Government  in  Japan,  events 
have  shown  that  when  a national  danger  menaces 
the  country  the  simple  policy  of  patriotism,  under- 
stood by  all,  educated  or  otherwise,  comes  to  the 
front,  smothers  conflicting  opinions  and  petty  jeal- 
ousies, and  saves  the  situation  in  Japan — as  it  does 
in  England,  for  the  matter  of  that.  That  is  perhaps 
the  most  tangible  guarantee  that  we  have  that  Jap- 
anese politics  in  the  long-run  will  work  out  their 
own  salvation ; and  when  we  study  the  practical 
effect  of  a Constitutional  Government  in  Japan  up 
to  the  present,  and  notice  its  weak  points,  we  must 
not  lose  sight  of  the  fact  that  its  existence  does  not 
yet  date  back  quite  ten  years. 


CHAPTER  XIII 


OUTLINE  OF  STRATEGICAL  GEOGRAPHY 

The  number  of  islands  which  go  to  make  up  the 
Empire  of  Japan  is  variously  estimated.  In  fact, 
one  authority  in  giving  a number  very  often  will 
not  come  within  a thousand  or  so  of  the  estimate  of 
another  equally  careful  student  of  Japanese  geogra- 
phy. 

This  somewhat  wide  disparity  is  not  necessarily 
due  to  either  authority  being  inaccurate  in  his  calcu- 
lations ; it  merely  means  that  they  differed  in  their 
opinions  as  to  the  minimum  size  of  rock  which 
could  be  reasonably  dignified  with  the  name  of 
“ island.” 

It  is  not,  however,  within  my  province  to  split 
straws  on  the  question,  as,  whatever  estimate  we 
may  choose  to  take,  a glance  at  the  map  is  sufficient 
to  bring  home  to  any  one  in  a forcible  manner  the 
fact  that  Japan  is  made  up  of  quite  enough  islands 
to  render  very  difficult  the  problem  of  protecting 
them  all  adequately  in  time  of  wrar. 

A study  of  Far  Eastern  geography  should  at  once 
convince  those  who  had  considered  that  Japan  is 
squandering  money  in  a useless  manner  on  her 
navy,  and  is  unduly  subsidizing  and  otherwise  nurs- 

205 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 


in g her  mercantile  marine,  that  in  reality  in  these 
two  sections  of  her  modern  development  should  lie 
the  future  salvation  of  the  country. 

It  is  doubtless  because  the  Japanese  of  to-day  have 
realized  this  fact,  that  there  are  not  to  be  found  among 
her  politicians  any  to  correspond  with  our  “ Little 
Englanders.”  In  spite  of  the  trouble  that  Formosa 
has  given  the  Japanese  Government  since  they  took 
it  over,  there  is  not  a single  politician  who  would  be 
in  favor  of  giving  it  back  to  the  Chinese ; and  there 
is  no  one  to  suggest  in  a serious  manner  the  curtail- 
ment of  the  naval  programme. 

No!  This  sort  of  “ Little  Japanner”  has  not  yet 
been  born  ; and,  should  any  embryo  statesman,  in 
following  out  our  Western  methods,  think  that  such 
a policy  might  bring  him  self-advertisement,  he  would 
find  that  the  value  of  any  notoriety  thus  gained  would 
be  more  than  counterbalanced  by  the  fact  that  it 
would  place  him  in  a most  unsatisfactory  position 
with  his  countrymen. 

It  is  to  be  presumed  that  ninety-nine  out  of  every 
hundred  of  the  Japanese  islands  would  not  be  worth 
protecting;  for  the  simple  reason  that  no  foreign 
Powers  would  find  them  worth  the  trouble  of  taking. 
But,  if  we  reckon  the  Japanese  islands  by  tens  in- 
stead of  by  thousands,  there  still  remains  the  fact 
that  the  task  of  adequately  protecting  such  scattered 
and  sometimes  isolated  pieces  of  territory  could  by 
no  means  be  described  as  a trivial  undertaking. 

If  Nature  has  ordained  that  Japan  shall  be  a spread- 
out  island-empire,  and  vulnerable  as  such,  she  has  also 

206 


STRATEGICAL  GEOGRAPHY 


provided  certain  counterbalancing  advantages,  which 
help  materially  towards  saving  the  situation.  For,  al- 
though any  one  of  the  more  important  Powers  would 
have  no  difficulty  in  hoisting  its  flagon  some  of  Ja- 
pan’s smaller  outlying  possessions,  it  is  difficult  to  see 
how,  except  in  the  case  of  a concerted  action  on  a 
large  scale  between  the  fleets  of  continental  Europe, 
it  could  wave  there  for  long.  However,  if  such  an 
eventuality  were  to  come  about,  it  would  be  of  but 
little  importance  to  the  aggressor,  except  as  afford- 
ing him  a pied  a terre  for  organizing  an  attack  on 
Japan  proper. 

“Japan  proper”  is  usually  said  to  consist  of  the 
three  islands  of  Hondo,  Skikoku,  and  Kyushu  ; but 
for  the  purposes  of  this  chapter,  which  deals  with  the 
defences  of  the  country,  I am  assuming  that  Hok- 
kaido also  comes  within  this  definition. 

I cannot  imagine  any  more  inhospitable  place  than 
Japan  from  the  point  of  view  of  an  invading  army; 
as,  apart  from  any  question  of  armed  resistance,  the 
geological  conditions  are  generally  such  as  to  make 
it  an  extremely  difficult  country  to  negotiate.  From 
the  most  northerly  of  the  Kurile  Islands,  down  to 
and  including  Hokkaido,  the  formation  is  volcanic, 
and  the  country  as  a rule  barren.  Very  similar  geo- 
logical conditions  also  characterize  the  northern  por- 
tion of  the  main  island. 

It  is  true  that  there  are  extensive  forests  in  Hok- 
kaido, but  these  are  not  of  a nature  to  assist  the  in- 
vader, either  in  his  advance  or  in  his  commissariat 
department.  And  the  island  is  so  mountainous  that 

207 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 


the  advance  of  large  bodies  of  troops  through  it 
would  be  extremely  difficult  at  any  time. 

Then,  again,  during  the  winter  months,  that  part 
of  the  country  is  under  snow;  it  is  always  under- 
populated, and,  generally  speaking,  underfed. 

Thus,  even  assuming  that  the  invading  army  could 
be  satisfactorily  landed  there,  and  that  its  presence 
would  be  of  practical  use  in  furthering  the  project 
of  ultimately  conquering  the  main  island,  one  does 
not  see  how  such  an  army  could  be  fed  for  any 
length  of  time. 

So  much  for  the  most  northerly  natural  buffer  of 
Japan  proper. 

The  southern  island,  Kyushu,  is,  geologically 
speaking,  very  similar  in  its  nature  to  Hokkaido. 
Its  coast-line  is  extremely  difficult  of  approach  as  a 
rule;  and,  once  on  shore,  the  progress  of  an  invad- 
ing army  would  be  impeded  by  natural  obstacles  at 
every  step. 

For  a variety  of  reasons  this  island  would  be  likely 
to  play  a far  more  important  part  in  a defensive  and 
offensive  war  than  Hokkaido. 

It  is  true  that  the  Japanese  do  not  disguise  from 
themselves  the  fact  that  Russia  is  their  real  and 
serious  enemy,  and  incidentally  any  Powers  who  may 
be  co-operating  with  that  country. 

Geographically  speaking,  one  would  expect  thai 
the  direction  of  attack  from  Russia  would  come  from 
the  north,  but  bearing  in  mind  the  fact  that  the 
Russian  fleet  in  Pacific  waters  at  the  present  day 
would  be  totally  incapable  of  coping  with  Japan,  it 

208 


STRATEGICAL  GEOGRAPHY 


is  to  be  presumed  that  in  the  event  of  an  attempted 
invasion  Russian  ships  would  have  to  be  sent  out 
from  Europe.  Consequently  it  is  rather  in  the 
southerly  portion  of  Japanese  waters  that  one  would 
expect  the  first  encounter  to  take  place. 

It  is  also  to  be  presumed  that  Russia  would  never, 
that  is  to  say,  within  the  measurable  future,  attack 
Japan  single-handed  with  a view  to  invasion  of 
Japanese  territory.  Thus,  in  event  of  a combined 
attack,  one  could  take  it  that  the  headquarters  of  the 
fleet  or  fleets  of  Russia’s  co-operators  would  be  south 
rather  than  north  of  Japan. 

Again,  it  is  to  be  presumed  that  Russia  would 
never  venture  on  open  hostilities  until  she  had 
practically  obtained  possession  of  the  Corean  pen- 
insula; and  this  would  also  point  to  the  south  as 
the  primary  basis  of  hostilities. 

Recent  politics  have  shown  us  that  Russian  in- 
fluence is  extending  in  that  part  of  the  world. 
Holding  Port  Arthur  and  Talien-wan  as  she  does, 
and  pursuing  a bullying  policy  at  Peking,  backed  up 
with  the  practical  menace  of  a huge  military  force 
as  near  to  the  Corean  and  Chinese  frontiers  as  she 
can  place  them,  and  with  powerful  diplomatic 
agencies  in  Corea  and  China,  we  may  look  in  the 
not  very  far-off  future  to  the  undisputed  prepon- 
derance of  Russian  influence  in  Corea,  unless  Great 
Britain  and  Japan  take  measures  to  prevent  such  a 
catastrophe. 

The  extension  of  Russian  influence  in  Corea  is 
precisely  what  Japan  does  not  wish  for,  as,  if  it  is 

209 


o 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 

effected,  the  integrity  of  the  Japanese  Empire  would 
be  powerfully  menaced. 

The  island  of  Kyushu,  which,  except  for  the  small- 
er islands  of  Tsushima  and  Iki,  is  the  nearest  portion 
of  Japanese  territory  to  Corea,  would  seem  to  be  the 
natural  theatre  of  a future  war,  at  all  events  in  its 
early  stages. 

As  explained  above,  the  geological  formation  of 
Kyushu  is  very  similar  to  that  of  Hokkaido,  but  it 
would  be  more  advantageous  to  the  invader  in  that 
it  is  prolific  in  rice  and  other  food  products,  and  is 
essentially  the  most  productive  coal  centre  in  Japan. 

In  view  of  the  rugged  coast -line  it  is  difficult  to 
see,  as  fleets  in  that  part  of  the  world  go  at  the  pres- 
ent day,  how  it  would  be  possible  for  Russia,  or 
any  continental  European  power,  to  effect  a footing 
there  in  the  face  of  Japan’s  very  efficient  and  ever 
increasing  naval  strength. 

The  strategical  sketch-map  which  will  be  found 
facing  page  198  has  been  drawn  up  for  the  purpose 
of  emphasizing  the  following  features:  The  dis- 
position of  the  various  Army  Divisions,  Naval  Sta- 
tions, Government  and  private  Dock-yards  and  Ar- 
senals ; those  portions  of  the  railway  system,  existing 
and  projected,  which  touch  on  strategical  influences  ; 
the  positions  of  the  rice  and  coal  producing  centres ; 
and  the  chief  mountain  ranges. 

In  order  to  make  this  map  as  clear  as  possible,  I 
have  omitted  the  names  and  divisions  of  provinces 
and  all  irrelevant  matter. 

As  far  as  territorial  defences  are  concerned,  the 


210 


THE  IMPERIAL  NAVAL  DOCKYARD,  YOKOSUKA 


STRATEGICAL  GEOGRAPHY 


Japanese  are  equipping  themselves  on  a scale  which 
English  people  might  consider  excessive. 

It  may  be  taken  for  granted  that,  like  our  own, 
the  Japanese  Army,  however  efficient,  could  never 
afford  a sufficient  protection  to  the  country  without 
a proportionately  strong  Navy. 

If  Japan  were  to  attack  a foreign  country,  it  must 
be  by  sea  in  the  first  place  ; and,  in  protecting  her- 
self from  an  outside  foe,  her  primary  arm  must  be 
her  Navy. 

Possibly  Japan  runs  a greater  risk  of  being  in- 
vaded than  Great  Britain,  and  has  consequently 
found  it  advisable  to  equip  herself  adequately  to 
meet  a force  presumed  to  be  already  landed  in  her 
country;  possibly,  too,  her  present  large  Standing 
Army  will  be  reduced  in  measure  as  the  strength  of 
her  Navy  increases.  If  there  were  to  be  a tendency 
to  curtail  the  expenses  in  one  or  other  of  the  two 
services,  it  would  be  the  Army  rather  than  the  Navy 
which  would  first  feel  the  effect  of  an  economical 
policy  on  the  part  of  the  Government. 

As  matters  stand  at  present,  the  territorial  Army 
numbers  rather  over  half  a million  men  of  all  ranks, 
including  about  ten  thousand  officers. 

These  forces  are  distributed  in  twelve  divisions, 
of  which  the  respective  headquarters  are  in  the  fol- 
lowing localities:  In  the  island  of  Hokkaido,  Sap- 
poro; in  Hondo,  Hirosaki,  Sendai,  Tokio,  Kana- 
sawa,  Nagoya,  Osaka,  Fukuchiyama,  and  Hiroshima; 
in  Kyushu,  Kumamoto,  and  Kokura;  and  in  Shiko- 
ku, Marungame. 


2 1 1 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 


In  the  three  smaller  islands  it  will  be  seen  that  all 
these  military  centres,  except  Kumamoto  in  Kyushu, 
are  directly  in  touch  with  the  railway  system,  such 
as  it  is  in  those  islands. 

Of  the  eight  stations  on  the  main  island,  six  are 
on  the  railways — Fukuchiyama  and  Kanasawa  being 
the  only  exceptions.  Of  these  Kanasawa  has  a rail- 
way within  a few  miles  of  it,  and  both  will  shortly 
be  connected  with  the  rest  of  the  railway  system,  as 
shown  by  the  projected  lines  on  the  map. 

Apart  from  the  regular  army  divisions  above 
specified,  a considerable  force  is  maintained  in  the 
island  of  Tsu  (Tsushima),  which  lies  half-way  be- 
tween Kyushu  and  the  Corean  coast,  and  which  is 
rightly  regarded  as  one  of  the  most  important  stra- 
tegical outposts  of  the  Empire. 

Formosa  also  is  fairly  strongly  garrisoned. 

From  a first  glance  at  this  map  it  would  seem 
that,  while  the  Pacific  side  of  the  main  island  is 
thoroughly  provided  with  territorial  defence,  the 
western  side,  which  is  the  nearer  to  the  Asiatic  con- 
tinent, is  still  somewhat  badly  equipped  with  rail- 
ways and  with  military  stations.  It  would  seem  too 
that  the  projected  railways  in  this  portion  of  the 
island  have  not  been  based  on  an  ideal  method  from 
a strategical  point  of  view,  as  instead  of  running  for 
great  distances  more  or  less  parallel  with  the  coast, 
and  between  important  centres,  they  have  taken  the 
form  as  a rule  of  short  lines  running  down  to  the 
coast,  at  various  places,  from  points  in  the  interior. 
This  unusual  laying-out  of  the  projected  railways  is 


STRATEGICAL  GEOGRAPHY 


due  to  the  irregular  nature  of  the  country,  which 
makes  it  impossible  to  run  a line  of  railway  along 
the  coast  for  any  great  distance  at  a stretch  on  that 
side  of  the  island. 

At  some  points  along  the  coast  the  mountains 
run  almost  sheer  down  into  the  sea,  thereby  placing 
obstacles  in  the  way,  not  only  of  the  railway  pro- 
moters, but  of  an  invading  force. 

Another  natural  protection  to  this  coast  lies  in 
the  fact  that  along  a great  portion  of  its  length  it  is 
practically  unapproachable  by  big  ships  owing  to  the 
innumerable  rocks  and  shallows. 

Of  the  actual  coast  defences  of  the  country  I am 
not  in  a position  to  say  much.  The  Japanese  Gov- 
ernment were  very  obliging  in  allowing  me  to  see 
what  I wanted  to  see,  provided  always  my  require- 
ments did  not  clash  with  what  they  preferred  my 
not  seeing ; and,  as  I was  asked  at  the  time  not  to 
write  in  a detailed  manner  on  that  subject  to  the 
papers  which  I was  representing,  I cannot  very  well 
deal  with  it  in  a book. 

Suffice  it  for  me  to  say  that,  in  the  opinions  of 
naval  and  military  expert  foreigners  who  know  the 
country  well,  the  defensive  strength  of  Japan,  as  far 
as  the  four  principal  islands  and  some  of  the  others 
are  concerned,  is  extremely  efficient,  both  naturally 
and  artificially. 

It  is  difficult  to  make  a comparison  between  the 
defences  of  Japan  and  those  of  any  other  country, 
as,  with  the  exception  of  Great  Britain,  there  is  no 
other  important  insular  nation  whose  circumstances 

213 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 


are  at  all  parallel ; and  Great  Britain  happens  to  be 
better  protected  in  the  way  of  artificial  coast  defence 
than  any  other  country. 

It  is  safe  to  say,  however,  that  as  a rule  the  im- 
portant cities  of  Japan  are  extremely  well  placed 
from  the  point  of  view  of  safety  against  bombard- 
ment. 

Tokio,  the  capital,  lies  well  inside  a lengthy  bay, 
the  entrance  of  which  is  protected  by  the  most  im- 
portant naval  station  in  the  country — Yokosuka, 
which  may  be  described  as  a little  Chatham  ; while 
the  Osaka  district,  the  centre  of  industrial  wealth, 
is  protected  most  efficiently  by  the  island  of  Shikoku 
and  the  Inland  Sea. 

The  map  shows  that  there  are  three  entrances  to 
this  most  beautiful  stretch  of  water — viz.,  the  Shim- 
onoseki  Straits,  the  Kii  Channel,  and  the  Bungo 
Channel. 

Of  these  the  first  and  second  are  strongly  and 
quite  adequately  fortified,  the  Shimonoseki  Straits 
being  narrow,  and  the  Kii  Channel  being  almost 
spanned  at  one  point  by  the  island  of  Awaji ; the 
tolerably  wide  Bungo  Channel  being  the  only  weak 
spot.  It  is  however  expected  that,  at  one  point,  the 
water  is  sufficiently  shallow  to  permit  of  the  erec- 
tion of  forts  in  the  sea  which  will  command  the 
whole  channel. 

However,  should  a foreign  fleet  succeed  in  forcing 
this  passage,  it  would  have  to  solve  the  dual  prob- 
lem of  threading  its  way  through  the  intricate  net- 
work of  islands,  which  are  difficult  enough  of  navi- 


214 


THE  NAGASAKI  DOCK 


STRATEGICAL  GEOGRAPHY 


gation  in  times  of  peace,  and  of  finding  itself  face 
to  face  with  any  force  which  the  second  naval  yard 
of  the  country — Kure — could  produce. 

On  the  map  the  position  of  Nagasaki  looks  some- 
what exposed,  but  as  a matter  of  fact  it  lies  in  a sort 
of  Norwegian  fjord,  the  adequate  protection  of  which 
is  a comparatively  simple  matter. 

At  Nagasaki  is  to  be  found  the  best  dock  accom- 
modation in  Japan,  in  the  shape  of  the  Mitsu  Bishi 
Dock.  Here  one  may  often  see  the  ships  of  the 
Russian  and  other  fleets  undergoing  repairs ; and 
this  fact  must  cause  the  student  of  Far  Eastern 
strategy  to  ask  himself  at  a very  early  stage  of  his 
studies  where  in  the  world  any  of  the  Powers  except 
Great  Britain  and  Japan  would  go  to  get  their  ships 
docked  in  event  of  a war  in  eastern  Asiatic  waters. 

The  growing  Government  Dock-yard  of  Sasebo  is 
also  in  the  neighborhood  of  Nagasaki. 

The  plant  for  starting  the  Sasebo  Dock-yard  was 
brought  from  Port  Arthur  when  that  place  was  capt- 
ured by  the  Japanese  during  the  war  with  China, 
and  has  been  supplemented  from  time  to  time  by 
machinery  from  Europe  and  America. 

A fourth  Government  Dock-yard  will  shortly  be 
established  at  Maidzuru  on  the  western  coast  of 
Hondo.  At  that  place  there  is  a wonderful  natural 
harbor  and  a good  anchorage ; and  it  is  almost  the 
only  spot  on  that  coast  which  can  be  described  as 
at  all  suitable  for  a naval  station. 

On  the  strategical  map  I have  shown,  by  black 
stars  and  red  dots,  the  parts  of  the  country  where 

2T5 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 


coal  and  rice  are  produced  respectively,  as  these  are 
two  most  important  products  to  locate  in  dealing 
with  the  question  of  strategy. 

In  connection  with  the  railway  service  it  is  of  in- 
terest to  note  that,  looked  at  as  a means  of  trans- 
porting large  bodies  of  troops  at  short  notice,  the 
system  leaves  something  to  be  desired. 

During  the  war  with  China  it  was  found  that  the 
dislocation  of  the  traffic  due  to  the  single-line  system 
was  a great  impediment  to  efficient  working.  Then 
again  those  of  our  politicians  who  are  clamoring  for 
the  suppression  of  the  wide  gauge  in  India  and  Cey- 
lon, or  at  all  events  who  would  have  all  new  lines 
built  on  the  metre  gauge,  should  bear  in  mind  that, 
though  the  Japanese  gauge  is  somewhat  wider  than 
that,  great  difficulty  was  experienced,  owing  to  the 
fact  that  the  carriages  on  their  3 feet  6 inch  gauge 
lines  were  not  wide  enough  to  admit  of  horses  stand- 
ing “athwart  ship”  in  them  ; thus  occasioning  great 
loss  of  space  and  time  in  despatching  the  cavalry 
regiments  to  the  port  of  embarkation. 


CHAPTER  XIV 


THE  QUESTION  OF  COLONIZATION 

When  Formosa  was  ceded  to  Japan  at  the  close 
of  the  war  with  China,  as  a portion  of  the  spoils  of 
victory,  there  were  many  people  who  foretold  that 
from  that  time  forward  Japan  would  formulate  an 
aggressive  colonial  policy ; and  certain  London 
papers  went  so  far  as  to  say  that  unless  Japan 
adopted  some  such  measure  she  would  never  realize 
her  dream  of  becoming  one  of  the  Great  Powers. 

I confess  I could  not  see  the  force  of  this  argu- 
ment, for  the  acquisition  of  colonies  has  not,  in  it- 
self, a strengthening  influence  on  a country.  In 
fact,  unless  colonies  are  a necessity  to  a nation, 
their  tendency  is  often  to  weaken  the  mother- 
country  rather  than  otherwise. 

If  we  take  examples  from  other  countries,  we  find 
that  Great  Britain  is  strengthened  by  her  colonies 
because  her  increasing  population  forces  her  people 
away  from  home  to  live  in  other  parts  of  the  world. 
Thus  communities  are  formed  with  a nucleus  of 
British  subjects  who  mean  to  make  of  such  places 
their  definite  homes ; and  under  such  circumstances 
the  British  flag,  in  due  course,  finds  its  way  there 
and  remains  planted  on  the  spot;  not  protected  so 

217 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 


much  by  a display  of  arms,  or  by  the  presence  of  an 
undue  number  of  British  officials,  as  by  the  moral 
force  created  by  the  vested  interests  of  the  residents, 
backed  up  by  a knowledge,  on  the  part  of  possible 
enemies,  that  British  warships  can  be  forthcoming 
if  required. 

In  the  natural  sequence  of  events,  our  merchant 
vessels  find  their  way  to  such  places,  and  the  trade 
is  mainly,  but  not  exclusively,  in  British  hands. 

The  Dutch  possessions  are  somewhat  of  the  same 
class.  Such  colonies  pay  and  strengthen  the  hands 
of  their  mother-country. 

The  other  side  of  the  colonial  policy  is  shown  by 
France,  who,  with  a decreasing  population,  holds 
colonies  as  a luxury,  and  because  she  thinks  that 
if  we  possess  them,  she  ought  to  show  the  world 
that  she  can  do  the  same  even  at  great  cost  and 
inconvenience. 

Spain  again,  whose  energy  at  the  present  time  is 
not  what  it  was,  has  been  obliged  to  hand  over  her 
colonies  to  a more  progressive  nation,  who  may  or 
may  not  find  them  an  advantage. 

The  position  of  Spain  without  her  colonies  will 
probably  be  stronger  than  was  the  case  when  she 
had  to  expend  large  sums  and  many  lives  in  en- 
deavoring to  hold  on  to  them  during  the  recent 
years  of  revolt. 

I fancy  that  the  Japanese  colonial  expansion  scare 
had  its  rise  in  an  assumption  that  because  Britain 
had  a large  Navy  and  Mercantile  Marine,  and  Japan 
was  rapidly  increasing  hers  on  British  lines,  the  uses 

218 


THE  QUESTION  OF  COLONIZATION 


she  intended  to  put  them  to  must  necessarily  be 
identical  with  ours.  Again,  no  doubt,  it  was  thought 
that  the  elation  of  the  Japanese  at  the  close  of  their 
war  might  occasion  them  to  make  a rush  for  colonial 
expansion. 

After  the  war  between  Japan  and  China,  people 
in  Europe  began  to  absorb  a certain  amount  of 
Japanese  geography,  physical  and  otherwise,  and 
one  of  the  facts  that  the  world  generally  began  to 
realize  was  that  only  about  twelve  per  cent,  of  the 
area  of  the  whole  country  was  under  cultivation  or 
capable  of  being  cultivated. 

We  also  began  to  appreciate  that  the  population 
of  Japan  was  a steadily  growing  one,  and  it  was 
only  natural  that,  under  the  circumstances,  some  of 
us  should  say  that  the  natural  remedy  for  this  sort 
of  thing  was  to  be  found  in  colonization. 

There  were,  however,  two  reasons  why  this  policy 
was  not  entered  upon,  and  either  of  them  was  suf- 
ficient in  itself  to  restrain  Japanese  colonization. 

Firstly,  Japan  had  no  surplus  population  for  colo- 
nizing purposes  at  the  time ; and  secondly,  there 
was  no  territory  available. 

With  a growing  population,  however,  and  an 
agricultural  area  which  has  reached  its  limit  of  ex- 
pansion, some  natural  or  artificial  factor  must  be 
brought  in  to  provide  the  people  with  a means  of 
livelihood,  or  the  surplus  population  would  have  to 
leave  the  country. 

That  factor  has  been  supplied  by  the  vast  increase 
in  the  new  industries,  which  have  not  only  found 

219 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 


work  for  the  increasing  population,  but  have  even 
caused  a dearth  in  agricultural  and  other  labor. 

These  industries  are  still  multiplying,  and,  as 
pointed  out  in  another  chapter,  Japan  is  now  obliged 
to  import  much  of  her  food  from  abroad. 

When  we  add  to  the  dearth  of  labor  caused  by 
these  industries  the  further  drain  on  the  lower 
classes  occasioned  by  the  increase  in  the  strength 
of  the  naval  and  military  forces,  and  when  we  con- 
sider that  the  men  at  the  head  of  the  State,  and  the 
leading  people  throughout  the  country,  still  have 
their  hands  more  than  full  with  every  sort  of  pro- 
gressive undertaking  at  home,  we  shall  find  that  the 
time  is  not  yet  ripe  for  the  serious  consideration  of 
an  extension  of  territory,  even  if  such  territory  were 
to  be  available. 

The  Japanese  have  their  new  colony  in  the  shape 
of  Formosa,  and  this  in  itself  has  offered  more  than 
enough  in  the  way  of  problems  for  solution  to  states- 
men and  students  of  colonial  policy  for  the  time 
being. 

The  only  outward  and  visible  sign  which  the 
Japanese  gave  which  might  seem  to  indicate  that 
they  had  a notion  that  some  day  they  might  wish  to 
extend  their  empire  was  afforded  by  the  organizing 
of  a Colonial  Department,  with  a Colonial  Minis- 
ter at  its  head.  Such  a department  was  not  neces- 
sary under  the  circumstances,  and  the  Government 
quickly  realized  that  fact. 

Possibly  its  being  started  was  due  to  that  spirit 
of  megalomania  which  we  so  often  hear  about ; but 


220 


THE  QUESTION  OF  COLONIZATION 


at  all  events,  whether  this  was  so  or  not,  from  the 
moment  it  was  considered  to  be  unnecessary  the 
Government  took  no  half  measures,  such  as  curtail- 
ing expenses  and  calling  the  department  by  a less 
high-sounding  name.  They  merely  suppressed  it, 
with  that  suddenness  which  characterizes  so  many 
of  their  important  changes — that  suddenness  which 
makes  Japanese  politics  so  difficult  to  follow,  and 
an  attempt  to  describe  them  satisfactorily  so  dis- 
heartening. 

When  Russia,  France,  and  Germany  combined  to 
prevent  Japan  from  annexing  Corea  after  the  war, 
they  deprived  her  of  the  only  portion  of  the  main- 
land of  the  Asiatic  continent  which  would  have 
made  her  a suitable  colony  or  which  she  coveted  ; 
certainly,  too,  it  was  the  only  portion  of  the  main- 
land which  she  stood  a probable  chance  of  being 
able  to  hold. 

Her  reasons  for  desiring  to  possess  Corea  were 
substantial  and  logical.  Firstly,  Corea  had  already 
a large  Japanese  population;  secondly,  as  long  as  it 
was  under  Chinese  protection,  the  progressive  policy 
adopted  by  the  Japanese,  and  essential  to  her  newly 
born  line  of  action,  could  not  be  brought  to  bear 
in  that  country;  thirdly,  its  possession  would  have 
strengthened  Japanese  influence  at  Peking,  an  in- 
fluence which  would  at  once  have  been  healthy, 
friendly,  and  in  the  interests  of  civilization ; fourthly, 
Japan  considered,  rightly  or  wrongly,  that  Corea 
would  have  formed  an  advantageous  “ buffer  ” terri- 
tory against  Russian  aggression  in  North  China. 


22 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 


It  is  to  be  presumed  that  England  and  America, 
at  all  events,  would  have  been  glad  to  see  Corea  in 
the  hands  of  the  Japanese,  even  from  a purely  selfish 
point  of  view ; as  apart  from  the  purpose  of  opening 
up  that  peninsula,  and  the  improvement  in  inter- 
national commerce  which  would  have  been  entailed 
thereby,  it  would  mean  that  we  should  have  had  a 
very  powerful  moral,  if  not  actual,  ally  in  Japan. 
With  so  great  a stake  in  the  mainland  of  that  part 
of  the  world  Japan  would  have  been  obliged,  had  the 
necessity  arisen,  to  have  borne  most  of  the  brunt  of 
such  warfare  as  might  be  entailed  in  opposing  Rus- 
sia’s aggressive  policy — a policy  which  we  profess  to 
deplore  and  even  to  resent,  but  which,  apparently, 
we  do  not  see  our  way  to  check. 

Whether  Japan  would  have  been  strong  enough 
to  hold  her  own  against  Russia  in  Corea,  had  the 
occasion  arisen,  I do  not  profess  to  know.  It  has 
been  said  that,  though  Japan  might  carry  on  a suc- 
cessful sea  and  land  war  against  the  Chinese,  the 
situation  would  be  reversed  if  she  were  to  find  her- 
self face  to  face  with  a white  enemy. 

How  far  Russians  in  that  part  of  the  world  are 
to  be  considered  “ white  ” is  a matter  of  opinion ; 
but  one  thing  we  do  know,  and  that  is  that  the  ex- 
tension of  Russian  territory — in  Asia,  at  all  events — 
has  not  as  a rule  been  occasioned  by  actual  force 
of  arms,  but  by  a display  of  strength,  backed  by 
judicious  and  extensive  bribery. 

It  is  an  open  secret  that  the  success  of  Russian 
policy  in  North  China  has  been  due  to  the  diplo- 


222 


THE  QUESTION  OF  COLONIZATION 


macy  of  the  “palm,”  and  that  his  Excellency,  Li 
Hung  Chang,  has  been  among  the  largest  recipients 
of  largesse  from  St.  Petersburg. 

The  smoothing  of  the  palm  policy  has  been,  when- 
ever the  occasion  demanded  it,  alternated  with  that 
of  the  shaking  of  the  fist;  in  other  words,  by  the 
massing  of  troops  in  the  nearest  available  territory. 
But  it  has  never  come  to  blows. 

Russia’s  policy  on  the  Afghan  frontier  has  been 
precisely  of  a similar  nature ; and  there  royalty, 
in  the  shape  of  the  Ameer’s  son,  is  said  to  have  suc- 
cumbed to  the  practical  pecuniary  blandishments  of 
Russia. 

Turning  to  Europe,  we  find  that  Russia  has  con- 
quered and  absorbed  Finland,  and  portions  of  Poland 
and  Turkey.  Of  these  victories,  one  may  say  that 
in  Turkey  Russia  had  to  face  an  enemy  who,  at  the 
time,  was  about  as  badly  organized  and  unprepared 
as  the  China  of  to-day  might  prove.  In  Finland, 
which  in  some  geographical  features  bears,  with  re- 
gard to  Western  Russia,  a certain  resemblance  to 
Corea  in  the  East,  Russia  also  had  to  deal  with  a 
powerless  foe,  against  whom  she  was  able  to  concen- 
trate the  best  of  her  energies,  as  the  country  to  be 
conquered  was  situated  conveniently  for  her  pur- 
pose. 

Of  Poland  it  is  safe  to  say  that  Russia  would 
never  have  conquered  it  single  - handed ; and  that 
she  only  effected  her  portion  of  the  victory  after 
terrible  losses,  and  because  Germany  and  Austria 
were  simultaneously  attacking  the  Poles  on  their 

223 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 


other  frontiers,  so  that  they  could  not  devote  any- 
thing like  their  whole  attention  to  resisting  the 
Russians. 

Of  the  two  defensive  wars  worth  mentioning 
where  foreign  armies  have  invaded  Russian  terri- 
tory— that  is  to  say,  the  Crimean  War  and  the 
Napoleonic  Invasion — Russia  was  defeated  in  the 
former  instance;  and  gained  the  day  in  the  latter, 
not  by  fighting,  but  by  running  away,  burning  her 
own  towns  and  cities,  and  allowing  the  Grande 
Armee  to  starve  and  freeze  itself  to  death. 

This  was  a victory,  no  doubt,  but  not  a victory  of 
arms — a victory  rather  determined  by  length  of  leg, 
length  of  country,  and  length  of  winter. 

My  reason  for  dealing  so  fully  with  Russian  war- 
fare in  a chapter  on  Japanese  colonization  is  that  it 
is  necessary  to  show  that,  if  it  is  Russia  who  has 
checked  Japan  in  the  past,  so  it  will  be  Russia  who 
will  leave  no  stone  unturned  to  do  so  in  the  future. 
Japan  at  the  present  day  is  far  too  advanced  in  civil- 
ization to  be  a welcome  neighbor  to  Russia,  whose 
policy,  therefore,  is  to  keep  her  at  arm’s-length. 

All  the  events  referred  to  above  happened  a long 
time  ago,  some  of  them  a very  long  time  ago ; and 
the  greatest  optimist  with  regard  to  Russia’s  military 
strength  would  find  it  hard  to  deduce  from  them 
that  they  have  afforded  a practical  proof  that  her 
prowess  and  capabilities  are  of  an  overwhelming 
nature  in  the  actual  field  of  battle,  except  in  so  far 
as  numerical  strength  is  concerned.  Have  we  any 
right  to  assume  that  in  facing  the  armies  of  to-day 

224 


THE  QUESTION  OF  COLONIZATION 


p 


225 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 

she  would  be  able  to  do  better  than  she  did  in  times 
gone  by? 

Experts  in  strategy  tell  us  that  Corea  is  not  an 
easy  country  to  invade  from  the  land,  and  that  there 
appears  to  be  no  reason  why  a well  organized,  if 
comparatively  small,  defending  army  should  not  be 
able  to  hold  its  own  against  very  heavy  odds.  It  is 
for  this  reason  that  Japan,  if  once  properly  installed 
in  that  peninsula,  might  possibly  defend  it  against 
Russia,  if  it  were  a question  of  coming  to  blows ; and 
Russia  would  have  no  possible  chance  against  Japan 
in  attempting  an  invasion  by  sea. 

At  the  present  day  this  discussion  may  be  con- 
sidered to  be  of  a somewhat  academical  nature,  inas- 
much as  Japan  is  not  now  in  possession  of  the  Corean 
Peninsula.  So  many  people,  however,  maintain  that 
Japan  is  to  become  a colonizing  nation,  that  it  is 
necessary  to  make  some  reference  to  the  territory 
which  would  seem,  for  many  reasons,  to  be  the  most 
natural  one  to  form  a substantial  Japanese  colony, 
and  for  the  possession  of  which  Japan,  at  all  events, 
made  a strong  if  ineffectual  bid. 

A glance  at  the  map  on  the  preceding  page  will 
suffice  to  show  that,  whatever  the  force  which  was 
able  to  keep  Japan  out  of  Corea  may  have  been,  that 
same  influence  could  be  brought  to  bear  with  greater 
strength  to  prevent  her  acquiring  any  other  territory 
on  the  Chinese  coast ; so  that  for  the  time  being,  at 
all  events,  we  may  dismiss  from  our  mind  the  idea 
that  Japan  will  endeavor  to  colonize  on  the  Asiatic 
continent. 


226 


THE  QUESTION  OF  COLONIZATION 


Then  comes  the  question  as  to  the  direction  in 
which  one  should  look  to  find  the  probable  coloniz- 
ing area  of  Japan,  if  she  is  destined  to  have  one. 

At  one  time  people  took  it  into  their  heads  that 
Japan  wanted  to  annex  the  Hawaiian  Islands,  situated 
half-way  between  her  and  America. 

I do  not  think  that  she  ever  seriously  contemplated 
this  step.  Although  I was  living  in  Japan  during 
the  acute  period  of  the  Americo-Japano-Hawaiian 
question,  and  was  in  touch  with  politicians,  diploma- 
tists, and  journalists  there,  I can  only  say  that  I saw 
and  heard  nothing  that  could  be  twisted  into  mean- 
ing that  Japan  had  any  designs  on  these  islands. 

She  wished  merely  to  protect  the  interests  of 
Japanese  subjects  living  there;  and  when  America 
first  talked  of  annexing  Hawaii,  Japan’s  one  and  only 
thought  was  to  make  sure  that  her  subjects  should 
have,  at  all  events,  as  much  fair  play  as  they  had 
had  when  the  islands  were  governed  by  an  Inde- 
pendent Republic  pour  rire . Possibly  the  attitude 
she  assumed  on  the  occasion  when  she  thought  her 
interests  were  menaced  was  rather  an  aggressive 
one,  and  occasioned  some  friction  between  herself 
and  the  United  States;  but,  roughly  speaking,  she 
finished  by  getting  more  or  less  what  she  required. 

Her  main  fear  was  that  under  American  rule  there 
might  be  a tendency  to  treat  the  Japanese  in  Hawaii 
as  the  Chinamen  are  treated,  for  obvious  reasons,  in 
the  United  States.  She  also  feared  that  the  Mc- 
Kinley and  Dingley  Tariffs  would  be  applied  to  the 
detriment  of  Japanese  commerce. 

227 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 


The  number  of  Japanese  emigrants  to  Hawaii 
has  been  habitually  much  exaggerated.  There  was 
an  impression  to  the  effect  that  these  islands  have 
formed  the  great  recipient  of  the  surplus  population 
of  Japan.  When  I explain,  however,  that  the  total 
number  of  Japanese  residents  in  Hawaii  amounts 
to  about  24,500,  and  that  there  are  sufficient  births 
in  Japan  every  year  to  people  the  entire  Hawaiian 
group  three  times  over  with  a number  equal  to  their 
existing  total  population  of  various  colors  (about 
110,000  people  all  told),  it  will  be  seen  that,  either 
the  existence  of  these  islands  as  an  outlet  for  Japan’s 
surplus  population  is  without  importance,  or  that 
Japan’s  surplus  population  is  very  small. 

My  theory,  as  stated  at  the  commencement  of 
this  chapter,  is  that,  in  view  of  the  rapidly  increasing 
industrial  field  in  Japan  at  the  present  day,  the 
surplus  population  in  that  country  may  be  treated 
almost  as  a quantite  negligeable , and  that  for  some 
time  to  come  it  will  remain  so. 

Going  farther  afield  than  Hawaii,  and  dropping 
for  a moment  the  question  of  colonies  in  the  politi- 
cal sense  of  the  word,  it  is  well  to  point  out  that 
strenuous  efforts  have  been  made  during  recent 
years  to  colonize  industrially  some  of  the  western 
shores  of  Mexico  with  Japanese. 

Syndicates  and  companies,  owning  Mexican  terri- 
tory, have  been  energetically  working  in  Japan  for 
the  purpose  of  getting  agriculturists  to  go  to  Mex- 
ico, and  to  carry  on  farming  and  other  industrial  en- 
terprises. 


228 


THE  QUESTION  OF  COLONIZATION 


The  leading  statesmen  in  Japan  have  been  ap- 
proached on  the  subject ; and  in  the  beginning  the 
sympathies  of  some  of  them  were  enlisted  in  these 
schemes.  One  or  two  such  colonies  were  actually 
started,  but  I believe  I am  right  in  saying  that 
they  have  not  turned  out  satisfactorily ; although 
one  of  the  Ministers  of  Agriculture  and  Commerce 
— I think  it  was  Viscount  Yenomoto — worked  very 
hard  to  make  the  first  of  them  a success. 

It  is  generally  admitted  that  island  colonies  are, 
as  a rule,  more  easily  acquired  and  more  easily  re- 
tained than  is  the  case  with  portions  of  territory  on 
the  mainland  of  a continent. 

If  this  theory  is  accurate  with  regard  to  countries 
generally,  it  would  seem  to  point  to  the  assumption 
that  Japan,  an  empire  composed  of  islands,  and 
having  extensive  naval  and  commercial  fleets,  should 
find  in  islands  the  natural  extension  of  her  posses- 
sions. It  is  said,  too,  that  colonies  strike  down- 
ward from  the  mother-country  as  a rule — that  is  to 
say,  that  the  mother-country  usually  lies  in  a more 
northerly  latitude  than  her  dependencies.  Through- 
out the  world  there  are  only  just  a sufficient  number 
of  exceptions  to  prove  the  general  validity  of  this 
rule. 

Thus,  geographically  and  strategically  speaking, 
it  would  seem  that,  if  Japan  is  to  acquire  further 
colonies,  her  future  field  would  lie  among  the  innu- 
merable islands  of  the  Southern  Pacific. 

This  part  of  the  world  would  also  seem  to  be  in- 
dicated by  the  fact  that  it  is  there  that  the  Japanese 

229 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 


trader  and  artisan  are  finding  their  way  when  they 
leave  their  country;  and  another  significant  argu- 
ment in  favor  of  this  view  is  afforded  by  the  rapidity 
with  which  these  seas  are  becoming  more  and  more 
thoroughly  worked  by  the  Japanese  merchant  ships. 

Already,  as  far  south  as  the  northern  shores  of 
Australia,  the  Japanese  communities  are  beginning 
to  make  themselves  felt  as  a factor,  and  an  increas- 
ing one,  in  the  population  of  many  of  the  islands 
which  intervene  between  Formosa  and  Australia. 

The  map  shows  us  that  the  present  Empire  of 
Japan  stretches  in  one  lengthy  and  fairly  straight 
line  of  islands,  without  any  very  wide  gaps  between 
them,  from  Kamtchatka  on  the  northeast  down  to  a 
point  on  a line  drawn  between  Hong  Kong  and  the 
Philippines  on  the  southwest.  The  effect  of  such  a 
position  is  that,  given  a sufficiently  powerful  fleet, 
Japan  would  be  in  a very  formidable  position  for 
holding  the  seas,  as  far  as  preventing  intercourse 
with  the  Russian  and  Chinese  seaboard  is  concerned. 

Generally  speaking,  people  have  not  grasped  the 
situation  that,  while  Japan’s  primary  object  in  in- 
creasing her  naval  strength  is  self-protection,  her 
ultimate  aim  is  to  make  herself  so  powerful  in  Far 
Eastern  waters  that  her  voice  will  perponderate  in 
international  questions  in  that  part  of  the  world. 

Pending  the  realization  of  that  dream,  it  is  difficult 
to  see  where  her  new  colonies  are  to  be  found,  as  al- 
though there  are  hundreds  of  small  islands  which 
could  almost  be  had  for  the  asking,  all  the  larger 
ones  which  are  worth  having  are  held  by  nations 

230 


THE  QUESTION  OF  COLONIZATION 


with  whom  it  would  not  answer  Japan’s  purpose  to 
go  to  war  now;  and  who  would  not  part  with  them 
at  a price  which  it  would  be  worth  Japan’s  while  to 
pay. 

Assuming  that  such  islands  were  in  want  of  a 
tenant,  Japan’s  natural  area  for  colonial  extension 
would  be  the  Philippines,  the  Moluccas,  and  New 
Guinea,  as  by  appropriation  there  she  would  lengthen 
her  protective  chain  along  the  east  of  Asia. 

But  as  matters  now  stand,  to  acquire  those  isl- 
ands Japan  would  have  to  deal,  amicably  or  other- 
wise, with  the  United  States,  Holland,  Britain,  and 
Germany. 

At  present  she  is  not  able  to  offer  any  sort  of 
quid  pro  quo  in  exchange  for  these ; but  were  she  to 
become  overwhelmingly  powerful  in  those  waters,  so 
powerful,  in  fact,  that  her  services  could  be  utilized 
to  further  other  ends  of  the  various  nations  who 
own  those  places,  there  is  no  telling  to  what  extent 
the  ownership  of  the  islands  in  the  Southern  Pacific 
might  change  hands. 

We,  who  are  accredited  with  holding  on  to  our 
possessions,  have  before  now  ceded  to  the  Dutch 
and  the  Germans  more  valuable  territory  than  the 
British  portion  of  New  Guinea,  for  instance,  for  a 
return  far  more  inadequate  than  would  be  afforded 
by  the  co-operation  of  the  Japanese  naval  and  mili- 
tary forces  in,  for  example,  enforcing  our  supremacy 
in  the  Yangtse  Valley. 

There  has  been  some  talk  of  the  Americans  dis- 
posing of  certain  of  the  Ladrone  group  to  Japan 

231 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 


for  a consideration;  and  it  is  possible  that,  had  the 
war  between  Spain  and  America  taken  place  five  or 
ten  years  later  than  it  did,  the  Japanese  might  have 
gone  in  with  the  United  States  in  her  attack  on  the 
Spanish  possessions,  and  have  shared  the  spoils  in 
the  shape  of  the  Philippines. 

Before  leaving  the  subject  altogether,  it  is  as  well 
to  say  a few  words  as  to  the  one  existing  colony  pos- 
sessed by  the  Japanese — Formosa. 

While  all  sorts  of  side  lights,  many  of  them  un- 
favorable, have  been  thrown  on  the  methods  adopt- 
ed by  the  Japanese  in  colonizing  Formosa,  there  has 
never  been  a full  and  unbiassed  account  by  a for- 
eigner. Most  of  the  reports  which  have  found  their 
way  into  the  European  press  have  emanated  from 
missionary  sources,  and  have  been  prejudiced,  sen- 
sational, and  often  misleading. 

The  reason  for  this  is  to  be  found  in  the  fact  that 
the  missionaries,  however  conscientious,  have  by 
their  actions,  at  all  events  during  the  early  stages 
of  the  occupation,  materially  increased  the  difficul- 
ties which  beset  the  Japanese  in  endeavoring  to 
establish  their  rule. 

To  understand  matters  it  must  be  borne  in  mind 
that  the  Japanese  are  not  Christians.  Now,  their 
policy  in  Formosa  from  the  outset  was  based  on 
what  is  known  as  “ toleration,”  and  in  following  this 
out  they  did  not  interfere  with  the  religious  views 
of  the  natives,  except  in  cases  where  these  views 
entailed,  as  they  sometimes  did,  the  perpetration  of 
the  most  horrible  atrocities. 

232 


THE  QUESTION  OF  COLONIZATION 

The  business  of  the  missionaries  was  to  Chris- 
tianize the  Formosan  savages,  a process  with  which 
the  Japanese  did  not  interfere.  So  far  so  good ; but 
the  missionaries,  in  their  laudable  zeal  for  the  cause, 
found  it  incumbent  on  them  to  preach  the  doctrine 
to  their  followers  that  the  religion  of  the  Japanese 
was  a worthless  one,  and  in  some  instances  they 
entered  into  the  political  arena  against  them. 

It  speaks  well  for  the  Japanese  that,  however 
galling  such  an  action  might  be  to  them,  and  how- 
ever much  the  effect  of  discrediting  their  religious 
views  might  tend  to  lower  their  prestige  in  the  eyes 
of  the  natives,  they  did  not  take  forcible  measures 
to  put  a stop  to  this,  from  their  point  of  view,  inju- 
rious propaganda. 

There  is  no  doubt,  however,  that  some  of  the  re- 
grettable incidents  which  occurred  between  the  Japan- 
ese soldiers  and  the  people  of  the  country  were  due 
to  the  feelings  of  the  natives  having  been  worked 
upon  by  the  missionaries  in  this  way. 

No  doubt,  in  endeavoring  to  settle  the  country  on 
its  new  basis,  blunders  of  policy  were  made,  and  at 
times  unnecessary  blood  was  spilt.  I do  not  think, 
however,  that,  bearing  in  mind  the  condition  of  the 
country  and  the  savage  nature  of  the  people,  the 
sum  total  of  these  “ atrocities,”  as  they  have  been 
called,  exceeded  those  which  might  have  been  ex- 
pected of  almost  any  other  nation  placed  in  a simi- 
lar position. 

It  must  be  remembered  that  the  handing  over  of 
Formosa  to  the  Japanese  did  not  mean  putting  them 

233 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 


in  peaceful  possession  of  a law-abiding  community, 
which  had  been  governed  by  any  sort  of  civilized 
rule.  In  practice,  the  ceding  of  Formosa  by  China 
to  Japan  meant  really  that  the  European  Powers 
acquiesced  in  Japan  taking  possession  of  the  island 
and  subduing  and  reducing  to  order  the  inhabitants, 
comprising  between  two  and  three  millions  of  the 
most  dangerous  type  of  Chinamen  — a variety  of 
mixed  breeds,  in  which  the  Papuan  negro,  the  Mon- 
golian, and  the  Malay  predominated — and  a multi- 
tude of  lawless  and  hitherto  untamed  savages  of  the 
most  desperate  nature. 

The  Japanese  are  being  guided  in  their  Formo- 
san policy  by  ours  in  India.  They  are  altering  the 
native  laws  and  customs  as  little  as  possible,  and,  as 
above  stated,  leaving  the  people  their  religion.  They 
are  establishing  the  Japanese  language,  and  certain 
military  officers  hold  a sort  of  go -as -you  please  rov- 
ing commission  to  experiment  in  making  soldiers 
out  of  the  tribesmen.  If  the  results  of  these  pre- 
liminary trials  seem  hopeful,  organized  steps  will  be 
taken  to  deal  with  the  matter  on  a large  scale. 

The  inter-racial  hatred  which  existed  so  strongly 
in  India,  and  helped  us  materially  in  establishing  our 
position  there,  found  its  equivalent  to  some  extent  in 
Formosa  in  the  hatred  which  has  always  existed  be- 
tween the  natives  and  the  Chinese  population. 

As  an  illustration  of  the  extent  to  which  the  For- 
mosan natives  are  uncivilized,  it  is  interesting  to  note 
that  on  one  occasion  the  Governor-General,  in  pur- 
suance of  the  policy  of  toleration,  caused  a mes- 

234 


THE  QUESTION  OF  COLONIZATION 


sage  to  be  conveyed  to  certain  of  the  chiefs  to 
the  effect  that  the  new  rulers  would  endeavor  to 
respect  the  native  customs,  and  suggesting  that  if 
they  had  any  reasonable  requests  to  make,  the  Jap- 
anese authorities  would  be  willing  to  fall  in  with 
their  views.  The  tribal  chiefs,  after  consultation, 
said  that  they  were  very  happy  under  the  new  state 
of  affairs,  but  they  had  one  request  to  make — viz., 
that  as  a certain  number  of  Chinamen’s  heads  were 
essential  to  the  proper  carrying  out  of  their  religious 
ceremonies,  and  under  the  new  conditions  it  was 
becoming  increasingly  difficult  to  obtain  them,  they 
would  be  much  obliged  if  the  Japanese,  who  now 
had  the  upper  hand,  and  consequently  greater  facili- 
ties, would  kill  the  necessary  number  of  Chinamen 
and  send  them  the  heads  at  the  time  required  for 
the  propitiation  of  their  gods. 

In  spite  of  the  sensational  reports  to  the  contrary, 
the  policy  of  the  Japanese  in  Formosa  has,  on  the 
whole,  been  logical,  lenient,  and  careful,  and  there 
has  been  nothing  whatever  in  their  methods  so  far 
to  lead  one  to  imagine  that  they  will  be  inca- 
pable of  dealing  with  colonial  matters  in  the 
future. 

When  I was  living  in  Tokio  I had  the  advantage 
on  several  occasions  of  talking  with  Baron  Nogi, 
who  was  at  that  time  the  Governor-General  in  For- 
mosa, with  his  aide-de-camp,  and  with  his  secretary. 
I was  shown  several  letters  from  European  res- 
idents in  Formosa,  expressing  thanks  for  and  ap- 
proval of  the  methods  he  had  employed  in  carry- 

235 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 

in g out  his  uphill  task  of  producing  order  out  of 
chaos. 

Among  the  difficulties  to  be  met  with  in  Formosa 
may  be  mentioned  a pestilential  climate,  cutthroat 
and  hostile  inhabitants,  squalid  and  filthy  villages, 
lofty  and  inaccessible  mountains,  the  most  prolific 
rainfall,  and  consequently  most  extensive  floods  in 
the  world,  an  occasional  earthquake,  and  a varied 
assortment  of  insect  life  in  its  most  unpleasant 
form. 

From  the  above  it  will  be  seen  that  any  country 
about  to  embark  on  a scheme  of  colonial  expansion 
could  not  possibly  have  had  a better  practical  school 
in  that  way  than  has  been  afforded  to  Japan  by 
Formosa,  which  in  a compact  space  contains  rep- 
resentative samples  of  almost  all  the  problems  which 
the  colonist  is  likely  to  have  to  face,  except  at  the 
North  Pole. 

Under  the  circumstances  we  need  not  be  hyper- 
critical with  regard  to  Japanese  colonial  methods,  if 
they  have  not  succeeded  after  less  than  five  years  of 
occupation  in  converting  such  a pandemonium  into 
a paradise. 

But,  as  stated  earlier,  Japan  is  not  greedy  for 
more  colonies  at  the  present  day ; and  perhaps,  after 
all,  Russia  may  be  said  to  have  inadvertently  con- 
ferred a great  benefit  on  her  neighbor  when  she 
forced  her  to  relinquish  Corea.  For  had  Japan 
continued  to  occupy  that  country  she  would  have 
been  obliged  to  maintain  a very  large  military  force 
there,  which  would  have  been  an  extremely  serious 

236 


THE  QUESTION  OF  COLONIZATION 


drain  on  her  already  overtaxed  resources ; whereas 
as  matters  now  stand  she  is  able  to  spend  all  her 
available  capital  on  her  navy,  to  which  she  rightly 
looks  for  the  solution  of  the  question  as  to  what  her 
influence  on  the  world’s  history  is  to  be  in  the 
future. 


CHAPTER  XV 


JAPAN  AS  AN  ALLY 

Among  the  many  sensational  rumors  that  of  re- 
cent years  have  been  floating  about  the  world  on 
the  subject  of  Far  Eastern  politics,  not  one  has  been 
more  persistent,  and  at  the  same  time  more  vague, 
than  that  which  accredited  Great  Britain  anc  Japan 
with  having  “arrived  at  an  understanding.”  In  dip- 
lomatic language  “ an  understanding  ” is  a very 
convenient  and  comprehensive  term.  It  may  mean 
anything  between  a definite  and  binding  political  al- 
liance and  a loosely  made  arrangement  to  adopt  cer- 
tain parallel  lines  of  policy  under  certain  conditions. 

The  “ understanding  ” between  Great  Britain  and 
Japan  was  not,  in  any  sense  of  the  word,  of  a formal 
nature,  and  yet  its  moral  strength  was  so  great  that 
the  mere  knowledge  of  its  existence  has  been  enough 
on  more  than  one  occasion  lately  to  prevent  the 
breaking  out  of  what  would  have  been  the  most 
serious  war  of  modern  times.  Its  strength  did  not 
lie  in  signed  documents,  for  such  documents  did  not 
exist  and  were  not  needed;  nor  had  it  a foundation 
either  on  bluff  or  on  that  bogus  sentiment  which 
has  formed  the  basis  of  certain  international  under- 
standings. 


238 


JAPANESE  MOUNTAIN  ARTILLERY  APPROACHING  PORT  ARTHUR  DURING  THE  WAR  WITH  CHINA 

Drawn  by  Bernard  F.  Gribble 


JAPAN  AS  AN  ALLY 


The  fact  of  the  matter  is  that  the  trend  of  politics 
in  the  Far  East  has  of  late  years  had  the  effect  of 
driving  English  and  Japanese  interests  into  chan- 
nels which,  if  not  altogether  identical  in  theory,  are 
very  much  so  in  practice. 

It  is  only  during  the  last  year  or  two  that  certain 
Powers  became  aware  that  if  they  persisted  in  push- 
ing an  aggressive  policy  in  the  Far  East  beyond  a 
certain  point  there  would  come  a time  when  neither 
England  nor  Japan  would  allow  such  a state  of  af- 
fairs to  go  on.  The  only  result  to  be  expected  from 
such  an  eventuality  would  be  that  England  and 
Japan  must  act  in  concert  to  check  such  aggression. 
The  allied  fleets  of  these  two  countries  would  have 
no  difficulty  in  becoming  masters  of  the  seas  and 
the  coast-lines  in  that  part  of  the  world. 

In  dealing  with  the  question  of  a possible  Anglo- 
Japanese  alliance  one  must  run  over  in  a brief  way 
some  of  the  salient  points  with  regard  to  recent  in- 
ternational politics  in  the  Far  East ; and  this  neces- 
sitates my  departing  to  some  extent  from  the  policy 
laid  down  in  this  book  of  dealing  with  Japan  only;  for 
China  has  been,  of  course,  the  principal  political  arena. 

Speaking  generally,  the  vital  interests  of  Great 
Britain  in  China  are  centred  in  the  Yangtse  Valley; 
except  that  Peking,  being  the  seat  of  the  Govern- 
ment of  that  country,  it  is  essential  to  our  policy 
that  we  should  retain,  not  only  a ready  access  to 
that  city  for  diplomatic  purposes,  but  that  we  should 
be  able  to  make  our  strength  felt  there  ; for  that  is 
the  only  way  to  retain  influence  in  China. 

239 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 


Otherwise  the  portion  of  China  over  which  it  is 
essential  that  our  influence  should  be  paramount 
lies  between  the  Shantung  promontory  on  the  north 
and  the  Canton  River  on  the  south.  North  of  the 
Gulf  of  Pechili  no  possible  combination  of  the 
forces  of  other  nations  could  check  Russia’s  slow 
but  steady  advance  through  Mongolia  and  Manchu- 
ria in  her  policy  of  absorption  of  Northern  China. 
Nor  would  such  an  advance  by  Russia  through 
northern  inland  China  be  detrimental  to  British  in- 
terests, provided  British  influence  at  Peking  were 
not  to  be  depreciated  thereby.  As  long  as  Peking 
continues  to  be  the  political  capital  of  China  it  is 
therefore  essential  to  our  policy  that  Russia’s  ac- 
quisitions should  not  reach  southward  as  far  as  that 
capital. 

The  Chinese  have  a saying  to  the  effect  that 
China  is  a mulberry  leaf,  and  Russia  the  worm 
which  is  devouring  it  piece  by  piece.  There  is  no 
doubt  that  Russia  is  doing,  and  will  do,  her  best  to 
fulfil  the  functions  of  the  worm  in  question;  but  a 
certain  amount  of  time  is  necessary,  in  the  natural 
course  of  things,  to  allow  her  to  go  through  the 
processes  of  swallowing  and  properly  digesting  the 
various  morsels.  That  Russia  should  absorb  the 
coast -line  of  Northern  China  and  of  the  Corean 
Peninsula  is  dead  against  the  interests  of  both  Brit- 
ain and  Japan.  Japan  is  sufficiently  harassed  with 
Russia  as  a near  neighbor  at  the  present  day,  and 
does  not  in  any  way  wish  an  extension  of  Russian 
seaboard  in  her  immediate  vicinity.  The  reason 


240 


JAPAN  AS  AN  ALLY 


why  it  is  not  in  Britain’s  interests  that  Russia  should 
be  extended  in  this  manner  is,  that  we  have  no  wish 
that  Russian  influence  should  be  forced  on  Japan. 
There  is  no  doubt  that  England  and  Japan,  in  com- 
bination, could  readily  check  Russia’s  advance  along 
the  coast,  and  even  keep  her  out  of  the  Corean  Pen- 
insula altogether. 

From  time  to  time  we  are  told  that  England  and 
Russia  are  on  the  point  of  coming  to  an  understand- 
ing about  matters  in  China,  and  if  such  an  under- 
standing could  be  arrived  at  it  would  be  a very 
excellent  thing  to  accomplish ; but  the  lines  of 
policy  of  the  two  countries  are  so  entirely  at  vari- 
ance, and  our  experience  of  understandings  with 
Russia  has  been  so  unsatisfactory,  that  it  is  not  in 
the  least  probable  that  any  workable  scheme,  with 
this  end  in  view,  could  be  brought  about.  Again, 
it  is  difficult  to  see  how  any  such  scheme  could  be 
otherwise  than  detrimental  to  the  interests  of  Japan, 
who  is  our  natural  ally,  for  the  time  being,  in  that 
part  of  the  world. 

Of  late,  too,  Germany  has  become  a factor  in 
Northern  Chinese  and  Japanese  politics  by  her 
acquisition  of  Kiao-chau,  and  this  fact  has  a strong 
bearing  on  Anglo- Japanese  relations.  It  has  be- 
come our  policy,  quite  recently,  to  avoid  hurting 
German  susceptibilities,  as  far  as  possible,  in  our 
press,  and,  no  doubt,  such  a policy  is  a praiseworthy 
one.  But  we  must  not  lose  sight  of  the  fact  that  in 
occupying  a portion  of  the  Shantung  Peninsula 
Germany  acted  under  the  immediate  protection  of 

Q 


241 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 


Russia,  whose  policy  it  was  to  let  anybody,  rather 
than  England,  gain  an  ascendency  in  that  part  of 
the  world.  The  fact  that  Russia,  by  treaty  with 
China,  had  a prior  claim  to  the  occupation  of  Kiao- 
chau,  was  not  emphasized  in  the  press  at  the  time; 
and,  when  it  was  mentioned,  the  point  of  view  taken 
was  usually  that  Russia  was  performing  a graceful 
Mother  Hubbardly  action  in  the  nature  of  “ giving 
the  poor  dog  a bone”  ; otherwise,  that  she  was  raising 
no  objection  to  Germany,  who  had  faithfully  backed 
her  up  in  preventing  the  Japanese  from  reaping  the 
advantages  of  their  war,  acquiring  a tardy  reward  for 
her  services. 

At  that  time  Germany’s  attitude  was  distinctly 
antagonistic  to  British  interests;  and  if  it  is  less  so 
now,  and  if  the  Germans  have  become  our  bona  fide 
friends  in  Far  Eastern  matters,  the  mystery  as  to 
the  cause  of  this  change  of  front  is  not  hard  to 
explain.  The  reason  lies  in  the  fact  that  Wei-hai- 
wei  is  now  in  the  hands  of  the  British,  and  that, 
without  Wei-hai-wei,  the  strategical  value  of  the 
Shantung  Peninsula  is  practically  nil.  Thus  the 
object  of  the  Germans  in  taking  Kiao-chau,  unless 
they  remain  on  friendly  terms  with  the  holders  of 
Wei-hai-wei,  has  been  negatived. 

Kiao-chau  by  itself  is  practically  useless  either  as 
a strategical  or  commercial  centre,  and  it  was  taken 
by  Germany  merely  as  forming  the  thin  edge  of  the 
wedge,  in  a policy  which  was  eventually  to  take  the 
form  of  commanding  the  southern  entrance  to  the 
Gulf  of  Pechili.  This  could  only  be  done  by  means 

242 


JAPAN  AS  AN  ALLY 


of  Wei-hai-wei,  and  the  German  dream  was  that, 
after  establishing  themselves  in  the  peninsula  with 
a fairly  large  territorial  army,  they  would  be  the 
natural  people  to  take  possession  of  that  place  when 
the  Chinese  had  paid  off  the  balance  of  their  war 
indemnity,  and  the  Japanese  had,  in  accordance  with 
their  treaty,  evacuated  it. 

The  taking  over  of  Wei-hai-wei  by  the  English 
was  the  smartest  diplomatic  stroke  that  we  have 
accomplished  of  late  years  in  the  Far  East ; and  in 
bringing  it  about,  those  who  could  read  between  the 
lines  had  an  opportunity  of  seeing,  for  the  first  time, 
that  we  were  morally  aided  and  abetted  by  Japan. 
At  this  time,  and  without  any  warning,  Japan  began 
to  press  China  to  pay  off  the  balance  of  the  war 
indemnity;  and  this  was  effected  by  means  of  an 
arrangement  in  which  Great  Britain  played  an  im- 
portant role ; with  the  result  that  we  stepped  into 
the  occupation  of  Wei-hai-wei,  without  any  sort  of 
resentment  on  the  part  of  the  Japanese,  but  to  the 
undisguised  wrath  of  Russia,  and  to  the  conster- 
nation of  Germany. 

But  our  acquisition  of  Wei-hai-wei  is  only  an  ad- 
vantage to  us  as  a strategical  centre  in  so  far  that  it 
enables  us  to  hold  one  of  the  sea  keys  to  Peking, 
and  as  affording  us  a certain  power  of  restraining 
Germany  in  adopting  an  exclusive  commercial  policy 
in  that  part  of  the  world.  In  the  first  flush  of  the 
acquisition  of  their  new  colony  there  is  no  doubt 
that  it  was  the  intention  of  the  Germans  to  adopt 
such  a method.  For,  while  they  stated  that  Kiao- 

243 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 


chau  was  to  be  an  open  port,  they  had  in  effect 
hedged  round  their  compact  with  the  Chinese  with 
a variety  of  conditions,  the  putting  into  force  of 
which  would  have  practically  stopped  the  possibility 
of  the  people  of  any  other  country  carrying  on  a 
satisfactory  trade  there. 

As  practical  people,  however,  they  have,  now  that 
the  English  hold  Wei-hai-wei,  come  to  the  conclu- 
sion that  to  reap  any  benefit  from  their  colony  they 
will  have  to  work  with  Great  Britain,  for  the  time 
being,  at  all  events. 

Our  alleged  prospects  of  an  understanding  with 
Russia  and  our  peaceful  arrangements  with  Ger- 
many in  the  Far  East  are  based  on  foundations 
which  may  give  way  at  a moment’s  notice ; for 
when  all  side  issues  are  done  away  with,  the  fact  re- 
mains that  Russia  must  be  Britain’s  most  important 
political  enemy  in  that  part  of  the  world,  and  that 
Germany  is  our  most  inveterate  commercial  oppo- 
nent. Of  the  other  two  countries  with  whom  we 
have  to  reckon  in  Far  Eastern  politics,  the  United 
States  and  France,  the  former  cannot  at  the  present 
day  be  looked  on  in  any  other  light  than  that  of  a 
country  whose  sympathies  and  interests  are  identical 
with  our  own,  and  on  whose  moral  co-operation,  at 
all  events,  we  could  reckon  in  case  of  need  ; whereas 
France,  whose  interests  are  essentially  confined  to 
Southern  China,  would  no  doubt  be  friendly  enough 
to  Britain  were  it  not  for  the  fact  that  unfortunate 
events  of  recent  occurrence  in  other  parts  of  the 
world  have  had  the  effect  of  estranging  French 


244 


JAPAN  AS  AN  ALLY 

sympathies  from  us.  Therefore,  until  such  time  as 
France  shall  have  realized  the  one-sided  nature  of 
the  bargain  she  has  made  with  Russia,  she  can 
hardly  be  numbered  among  the  militant  friends  of 
Great  Britain  in  the  Far  East. 

Thus  it  is  that  England  might  have  to  face  at 
any  time  in  that  part  of  the  world  the  allied 
strengths  of  Russia,  France,  and  Germany;  which, 
as  far  as  maritime  warfare  is  concerned,  would  not 
be  a very  terrible  ordeal,  provided  that  Japan  were 
neutral  and  the  United  States  a sympathetic  on- 
looker. If,  however,  Japan  were  to  throw  in  her  lot 
with  Russia  and  Germany  against  Britain,  matters 
would,  of  course,  be  very  different. 

But  in  the  natural  course  of  things  such  an 
eventuality  could  not  take  place  unless  Russia  and 
Germany  were  powerful  enough  to  force  Japan  into 
an  alliance.  Extreme  pressure  would  be  required 
for  this,  as  Japan,  who  dislikes  foreigners  generally, 
has  a greater  horror  of  Russia,  politically  speaking, 
than  of  any  other  nation. 

By  a strange  fatality,  too,  Germany  is  Japan’s 
greatest  commercial  opponent.  For  while  it  is 
mainly  British  and  American  machinery  which 
Japan  is  importing  for  the  purposes  of  her  new  in- 
dustries, she  is  turning  out  by  the  means  of  such 
machines  goods  which  compete  with  German  rather 
than  with  British  products.  It  would  seem,  there- 
fore, that  political  events  are  tending  to  throw  Great 
Britain  and  Japan,  and  possibly  the  United  States, 
into  each  other’s  arms  in  the  Far  East,  and  then 


245 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 


comes  the  question  as  to  the  feasibility  of  a co-op- 
erative arrangement  between  these  countries. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  Japanese  statesmen  recog- 
nize fully  the  political  and  commercial  strength  of 
the  Anglo-Saxon  race;  and  there  is  no  doubt  that 
as  Westerners  go  the  Japanese  have  a greater  re- 
spect for  them  than  they  have  for  the  people  of  any 
other  countries. 

At  the  same  time  the  Japanese  are  Asiatics,  and 
remain  Asiatics  at  heart;  and  they  resent  the  fact 
that  Westerners  of  any  sort  should  decide  the  des- 
tinies of  nations  in  that  part  of  the  world.  This 
very  natural  feeling  was  expressed  to  me  by  more 
than  one  politician,  and  very  emphatically  by  that 
most  astute  of  Japanese  statesmen  Count  Okuma, 
who  looks  upon  China  as  the  natural  ally  of  Japan. 
That  this  opinion  is  shared  by  those  who  guide  the 
politics  of  that  country  has  been  proved  very  clearly 
to  the  world  lately  by  the  visit  of  Count  Okuma’s 
great  political  rival,  the  Marquis  Ito,  to  Peking,  on 
the  subject  of  Chinese  reform. 

The  eventual  ideal  of  the  Japanese  is  that  Japan 
and  China  together  should  be  able  to  satisfactorily 
deal  with  Far  Eastern  matters,  as  opposed  to  the 
ever  encroaching  Westerner.  Japan  perfectly  real- 
izes the  impossibility  of  making  an  ally  of  China  as 
matters  now  go,  but  her  ardent  wish  is  to  see  the 
bringing  about  of  an  enlightened  China  with  whom 
a serious  compact  could  be  made.  How  long  that 
dream  will  take  to  realize  can  only  be  a matter  for 
conjecture  ; but  pending  such  time  the  sympathies  of 

246 


JAPAN  AS  AN  ALLY 


Japan  must  go  out  to  such  of  the  “ Western  barbari- 
ans ” as  are  most  likely  to  enhance  the  prospects  of 
such  a scheme  ; and  Japan  has  very  rightly  come  to 
the  conclusion  that  the  Anglo-Saxons  are  the  only 
people  who  do  not  wish  to  interfere  with  such  a 
policy.  Whether  English  and  American  people  are 
studying  their  own  eventual  interests  in  endeavoring 
to  educate  and  enlighten  and  Christianize  the  Asi- 
atics is  quite  another  matter;  but  that  we  go  to  con- 
tinual enormous  expense  to  effect  this  object  is  be- 
yond question. 

Russia,  of  course,  boasts  that  her  success  in  acquir- 
ing and  successfully  holding  her  extensions  of  ter- 
ritory in  Asia  is  mainly  due  to  the  fact  that  she  not 
only  does  not  endeavor  to  educate  the  natives  in 
such  territory,  but  that  she  makes  it  more  impossi- 
ble than  ever  for  them  to  improve  their  condition  in 
any  way,  by  encouraging  them  to  retain  everything 
which  is  barbarous  that  they  have,  and  by  hemming 
them  round  with  that  terrible  official  grip,  which  the 
unfortunate  natives  find  far  more  onerous  than 
their  own  laws.  It  has  been  my  lot  to  visit,  besides 
Russia  proper,  various  territories  which  have  been 
conquered,  or  have  otherwise  come  under  the  “ pro- 
tection ” of  Russia  in  Europe  and  in  the  Far  East, 
and  the  bitter  hatred  against  Russia  in  such  places 
is  universal  and  extreme  ; but  there  can  be  no  doubt 
as  to  the  efficacy  of  the  Russian  system  from  their 
point  of  view.  The  Japanese  are  aware  of  this,  and 
the  system  does  not  in  the  least  appeal  to  them.  It 
is  against  Russia,  her  immediate  and  powerful 

247 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 


neighbor,  that  the  modern  Japanese  armaments  are 
directed  at  the  present  day.  Germany  and  France 
are  also  naturally  looked  upon  by  Japan  with  dis- 
trust, from  the  fact  of  their  co-operation  with  Russia, 
above  referred  to,  at  the  close  of  the  war  with  China. 

These,  from  the  Japanese  point  of  view,  are  the 
reasons  why  Japan  looks  with  a comparatively 
friendly  eye  on  the  English  and  the  Americans  of 
the  present  day,  for  she  feels  that  were  Russia, 
France,  and  Germany  in  combination  strong  enough 
to  enforce  their  will  with  regard  to  Far  Eastern 
matters,  the  political  and  commercial  prospects  of 
Japan  would  be  ruined  once  and  for  all. 

Another  thing  which  would  be  certain  in  such  an 
eventuality  is  that  with  the  ruin  of  Japan  the  ruin 
of  British  prestige  and  trade  in  the  Far  East  would 
come  simultaneously;  and  it  is  for  these  reasons 
that  it  would  be  in  the  interests  of  both  these  na- 
tions to  support  each  other’s  policy. 

As  an  ally,  Japan  would  be  at  once  a powerful 
and  a loyal  co-operator.  Imbued  with  pluck,  deter- 
mination, and  endurance,  and  with  a rapidly  grow- 
ing knowledge  of  modern  warfare  and  its  methods, 
there  is  no  ally  from  the  British  point  of  view  in 
that  part  of  the  world  who  could  compare  with 
Japan.  Together,  as  far  as  naval  warfare  is  con- 
cerned, England  and  Japan  could  at  the  present 
day  hold  the  position  against  all  comers ; and  the 
interests  and  authority  of  these  two  countries  could 
be  maintained  entirely  by  means  of  naval  warfare. 
Neither  wishes  to  acquire  territory  in  Russia  or  in 

248 


JAPAN  AS  AN  ALLY 


Central  China,  and,  in  the  event  of  war,  their  ener- 
gies could  consequently  be  entirely  devoted  to  deal- 
ing with  the  ships  and  holding  the  coast-line  of  the 
enemy.  In  fact,  as  matters  now  stand,  Japan  and  , 
England  could,  by  playing  a somewhat  waiting  game 
after  hostilities  had  begun,  bring  about  a coal  famine 
which  would  cripple  the  whole  of  their  opponents, 
including  Russia,  if  the  season  of  the  year  were  well 
chosen. 


CHAPTER  XVI 


OUR  PROSPECTS  UNDER  THE  REVISED  TREATIES 

By  the  time  this  book  is  published  we  shall  be 
within  a few  months  of  the  coming  into  force  of  the 
revised  treaties  between  Japan  and  the  outside  world. 

Of  the  sweeping  changes  which  will  take  place 
when  the  new  treaties  do  come  into  force,  the  chief 
will  be  the  abolition  of  the  extra-territorial  rights  of 
resident  foreigners  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  nom- 
inal throwing  open  to  the  foreigner  of  the  whole  of 
the  Empire  of  Japan  for  purposes  of  travel,  trade, 
residence,  and  the  leasing  of  land  and  premises,  on 
the  other. 

In  order  clearly  to  explain  what  our  extra-terri- 
torial rights  in  Japan  amount  to,  I quote  the  words 
of  that  great  academical  authority  on  the  institutions 
of  that  country,  Mr.  Basil  Hall  Chamberlain : 


“ ...  If  an  Englishman  commits  a theft,  he  is  tried,  not  by  a 
Japanese  judge,  but  by  the  nearest  British  consular  court.  In  civil 
cases  where  one  party  is  a Japanese  and  the  other  a foreigner,  the 
suit  is  carried  into  the  court  of  the  defendant’s  nationality.  If  I 
want  to  sue  a Japanese,  I must  sue  him  in  a Japanese  court;  but  a 
Japanese  sues  me  in  a British  court.  A corollary  to  this  is  that  the 
interior  of  Japan  remains  closed  to  foreign  residence  and  foreign 
trade — even  to  foreign  travel  except  with  passports — it  being  evi- 
dently undesirable  that  a country  should  harbor  persons  not  ame- 

250 


OUR  PROSPECTS  UNDER  REVISED  TREATIES 


nable  to  its  laws.  Foreigners  are  therefore  restricted  to  Yokohama, 
Kobe,  and  the  other  ‘ Treaty-ports.’ 

“ Extra-territoriality,  claimed  thirty  years  ago  as  the  only  modus 
vivendi  which  could  render  the  existence  of  civilized  Christian 
beings  endurable  in  the  Japan  of  those  days,  has  since  then  been 
violently  assailed  by  some  as  unjust  to  Japan,  whose  independent 
sovereign  rights  it  is  held  to  infringe.  Thus,  the  partisans  of  extra- 
territoriality found  their  arguments  on  alleged  practical  utility, 
whereas  its  opponents  reason  deductively  from  considerations  of 
abstract  right.  Meantime,  in  view  of  Japan’s  frank  adoption  of 
European  culture,  the  controversy  has  been  closed  by  surrender  on 
the  foreign  side.  According  to  treaties  recently  concluded,  all 
foreigners  will  come  under  Japanese  law  about  the  close  of  the 
century.” 

Resident  foreigners  very  naturally  do  not  at  all 
relish  the  prospect  of  coming  under  Japanese  juris- 
diction, after  having  enjoyed  their  extra-territorial 
rights  for  over  thirty  years.  But  our  quid  pro  quo  is, 
as  above  explained,  the  throwing  open  of  the  country 
to  us.  There  are  people  who  maintain  that  this  last 
privilege  amounts  to  nothing  in  reality,  as  we  have 
for  some  years  past  enjoyed  the  privilege  of  trav- 
elling all  over  Japan,  provided  that  we  were  armed 
with  a passport,  easily  obtainable,  and  the  formal- 
ities respecting  which  did  not  entail  any  trouble, 
provided  that  we  could  produce  it  when  required. 

As  matters  stand,  until  the  revised  treaties  come 
into  force,  the  foreigner  is  allowed  to  travel  without 
his  passport  only  within  the  limits  of  a circle  having 
a radius  of  2\\  miles  round  the  various  treaty-ports, 
and  to  reside  only  in  certain  specified  concessions 
within  these  limits. 

Not  only,  however,  can  one  travel  all  over  the 
country  with  a passport,  as  mentioned  above,  but 
by  going  through  the  formality  of  taking  a nomi- 

251 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 


nal  employment  under  a Japanese  subject,  any  fairly 
well-behaved  foreigner  can  obtain  permission  from 
the  Government  to  reside  in  almost  any  part  of  the 
country. 

We  cannot,  however,  carry  on  a trade,  commerce, 
or  industry  outside  treaty  limits.  But  even  this 
event  is  to  be  got  over,  when  required,  by  simply 
carrying  on  such  trade  in  the  name  of  a Japanese 
friend.  When  such  a course  is  adopted,  the  busi- 
ness in  question  belongs  in  practice  as  well  as  in 
theory  to  the  Japanese  man  of  straw;  and,  as  ex- 
plained earlier  in  this  book,  if  such  a man  should 
turn  out  to  be  dishonest,  his  European  partner  can- 
not make  good  any  claim  against  him  for  defalca- 
tion. 

It  speaks  well  for  that  Japanese  business  morality, 
which  is  so  often  maligned,  that  a partnership  on 
these  lines  could  be  carried  on  at  all  under  such  con- 
ditions, and  I am  bound  to  say  that  I have  heard  of 
very  few  cases  where  the  Japanese  have  taken  unfair 
advantage  of  their  position. 

The  most  striking  instance  of  Japanese  abusing 
the  confidence  of  foreigners  who  had  reposed  this 
sort  of  trust  in  them  was  afforded  by  those  converts 
to  Christianity  referred  to  in  a previous  chapter; 
who,  as  soon  as  they  considered  themselves  strong 
enough  in  the  knowledge  of  their  new  faith  to  con- 
duct it  in  their  own  manner,  turned  out  the  Ameri- 
can missionaries  who  had  founded,  built,  and  organ- 
ized the  “Christian  University  of  Kioto.”  This, 
however,  can  hardly  be  classed  as  a commercial 

252 


OUR  PROSPECTS  UNDER  REVISED  TREATIES 


fraud,  as,  although  it  is  very  usual  in  Japan  for  mis- 
sionaries to  mix  Christianity  with  commerce,  this 
particular  college  was  not  a trading  concern. 

Although  it  has  been  possible  under  existing  cir- 
cumstances to  find  certain  Japanese  subjects  suffi- 
ciently honorable  to  make  it  worth  the  while  of  the 
foreigner  to  use  them  as  nominal  partners,  and  to 
set  up  his  business  in  the  interior  while  having  no 
legal  rights,  it  stands  to  reason  that  the  revised 
treaties  which  will  give  the  foreigner  the  power  to 
work  such  a business  on  his  own  account,  and  on 
an  equal  footing  with  the  people  of  the  country,  will 
afford  an  incentive  to  foreign  enterprise  in  this  di- 
rection which  has  never  yet  existed. 

There  are  people  who  maintain  that  the  clauses 
of  the  treaty  as  regards  tenure  of  land  by  the  for- 
eigner are  so  unsatisfactorily  worded  that  they  will 
not  offer  any  inducement  to  him  to  embark  his 
capital  in  industrial  enterprises.  I do  not  hold  this 
opinion  myself,  because  I am  quite  sure  that  under 
the  new  treaties  the  foreigner  in  Japan  will  be  vastly 
better  off  under  Japanese  jurisdiction  than  he  is  in 
a dozen  other  countries  where  he  successfully  em- 
ploys his  capital  in  this  manner. 

This  much  disputed  question  as  to  the  possibility 
of  extension  of  trading  and  industrial  facilities  rep- 
resents, I take  it,  almost  the  only  available  asset  in 
the  way  of  a tangible  advantage  which  the  foreigner 
has  gained  by  his  new  treaties  with  Japan.  Such 
as  it  is,  we,  as  Englishmen,  cannot  claim  to  have 
secured  it;  for  though,  as  foreign  interests  go  in 

253 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 


Japan,  the  British  interests  preponderate  over  all 
the  others,  it  was  we  who,  being  the  first  to  con- 
clude an  imperfectly  considered  treaty  with  Japan, 
irrevocably  damaged  the  prospects  of  our  fellow- 
countrymen  at  present  residing  in  that  country. 

The  example  afforded  by  Britain  was  more  or 
less  promptly  followed  by  other  countries,  and  all 
the  important  Powers  signed  treaties  of  a similar 
nature  with  Japan.  Fortunately  for  us,  however, 
some  of  the  other  Governments,  notably  those  of 
France  and  Germany,  looked  into  the  matter  rather 
more  closely  than  we  did,  and  insisted  on  certain  of 
the  more  glaring  defects  in  our  treaty  being  partial- 
ly rectified  in  theirs ; and  of  course  we  benefit  by 
such  modifications  under  “ the  most  favored  nation 
clause.”  The  fact,  however,  of  Great  Britain  having 
actually  signed  her  ill-considered  treaty  on  certain 
lines  hampered  the  action  of  the  other  Powers,  by 
making  it  much  more  difficult  for  them  to  insist 
upon  important  alterations. 

The  result  of  this  has  been  that  Japan’s  diplo- 
matic victory  over  all  the  civilized  Powers  of  the 
world  has  been  in  many  ways  more  decisive  and 
important  than  her  strategical  victory  over  China. 

When  Lord  Kimberley  signed  our  revised  treaty 
with  Japan  in  1894,  the  voice  of  the  “ Little  Eng- 
lander ” was  more  powerful  than  it  is  to-day.  The 
consequence  was  that  the  strong  protests  of  our 
compatriots  in  the  treaty-ports  of  Japan  against  the 
wording  of  the  treaty  were,  to  the  everlasting  dis- 
grace of  our  Home  Government,  unheeded. 


254 


OUR  PROSPECTS  UNDER  REVISED  TREATIES 


Once  more  I would  quote  from  Mr.  Chamber- 
lain’s book,  where,  in  a postscript  on  the  subject  of 
“Treaties  and  Treaty  Revision,”  he  holds  out  the 
following  appalling  estimate  of  our  prospects  : 


“As  the  date  for  the  enforcement  of  the  treaty  draws  near,  and 
men  have  to  make  arrangements  accordingly,  they  find  themselves 
confronted  with  obstacles  which  could  never  have  arisen  had  the 
negotiators  exercised  ordinary  foresight.  The  ambiguity  of  the  doc- 
ument is  not  the  least  of  its  defects.  A careful  consideration  of 
what  was  not  stipulated  for,  as  well  as  what  was,  shows  that  under 
the  new  treaty  British  subjects  may  not  improbably  lose  their  priv- 
ilege of  publishing  newspapers  and  holding  public  meetings — in  a 
word,  their  birthright  of  free  speech  ; and  that  it  is  doubtful  whether 
their  doctors  and  lawyers  will  be  allowed  to  practise  without  a Jap- 
anese diploma.  Even  the  period  for  which  leases  can  be  held  was 
left  so  uncertain  as  to  have  become  the  subject  of  endless  contro- 
versy ; the  conditions  of  the  sale  and  repurchase  of  leases,  in  what 
had  hitherto  been  the  foreign  “ concessions,”  were  left  uncertain ; 
the  right  to  employ  labor  and  to  start  industries  was  left  uncertain. 
With  things  in  this  state,  with  the  great  English  steamship  com- 
panies, the  P.  & O.  and  Canadian  Pacific,  probably  prevented  from 
carrying  passengers  between  the  ports,  and  with  new  duties  of  from 
30  to  40  per  cent,  levied  precisely  on  those  articles  which  are  prime 
necessities  to  us  but  not  to  the  Japanese,  could  any  one  imagine 
such  terms  having  ever  been  agreed  to  except  as  the  result  of  a 
disastrous  war.” 


While  there  is  no  doubt  that  Mr.  Chamberlain  is 
perfectly  justified  in  what  he  says  in  regard  to  the 
unsatisfactory  nature  of  this  treaty,  and  while  our 
Government  was  guilty  of  culpable  negligence  in 
not  considering  all  the  points  now  raised  before 
concluding  the  treaty,  I cannot  help  thinking  that 
many  writers  have  taken  an  unduly  pessimistic  view 
of  our  prospects  under  tne  new  regime. 

It  is  premature,  and  possibly  wrong,  to  assume 
that  the  Japanese  will  be  so  ill-advised  as  to  en- 

255 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 


deavor  to  render  the  position  of  the  foreigner  un- 
tenable in  Japan,  for  the  simple  reason  that  their 
own  interests  must,  in  the  long-run,  lie  in  the  oppo- 
site direction. 

Undoubtedly  it  was  high  time  for  extra-territori- 
ality to  be  abolished  in  Japan.  British  subjects 
stand  in  far  greater  need  of  such  rights  in  any  of 
the  South  American  Republics,  the  Transvaal, 
Spain,  Portugal,  and  Russia,  than  they  do  in 
Japan  at  the  present  day;  and  yet  our  business 
men  live  and  thrive  in  all  those  countries,  and  gen- 
erally speaking,  it  would  seem  that  our  Government 
is  capable  of  efficiently  safeguarding  our  interests 
abroad. 

To  sum  the  matter  up,  it  may  be  said  that,  in 
concluding  our  new  treaty  with  Japan,  we  have  done 
the  right  thing,  but  have  done  it  wellnigh  as  badly 
as  it  could  have  been  done.  Now  that  it  is  con- 
cluded and  past  reconsideration,  its  theoretical  side 
is  not  so  important  as  the  practical  question  as  to 
how  we  shall  stand  in  Japan  when  once  these 
treaties  come  into  force. 

English  business  men  in  Japan,  as  a rule,  are 
strong  in  their  opinion  that  the  treaties  will  ruin 
them,  and  many  of  them  will  doubtless  look  upon 
the  criticisms  on  which  I have  ventured  above  as 
being  vastly  too  mild.  But  I cannot  help  feeling 
that  the  dismay  of  such  people  as  to  their  future 
prospects  is  mainly  due  to  the  fact  that  most  of 
them  have  never  known  other  conditions  of  trade, 
and  that  they  attach  too  much  value  to  the  whole- 

256 


OUR  PROSPECTS  UNDER  REVISED  TREATIES 


some,  but  sometimes  misleading  conviction,  that 
satisfactory  trade  can  only  be  carried  on  under 
British  legislation. 

The  Japan  Gazette  has  constituted  itself  the 
champion  of  the  malcontents  in  this  way,  and, 
while  it  has  no  doubt  done  some  good  in  pointing 
out  certain  weak  features  in  the  new  treaties,  it  has 
sometimes  adopted  so  exaggerated  a tone  that  were 
this  journal  to  be  read  outside  japan  its  statements 
would  prove  very  misleading,  both  as  regards  the 
actual  provisions  of  the  treaties  and  the  spirit  in 
which  these  clauses  are  intended  to  be  read.  Local 
people,  however,  who  read  the  paper  in  question,  are 
able  to  make  allowances  for  these  exaggerations,  and 
to  form  their  own  opinions  accordingly. 

The  effect  of  the  aggressive  tone  on  the  part  of 
some  of  the  foreign  treaty-port  journals  on  the  sub- 
ject of  treaty  revision  has  been  to  awaken  a some- 
what similarly  hostile  attitude  in  the  Japanese  press. 
In  consequence  of  this,  a bitterness  and  acrimony 
which  are  greatly  to  be  deplored  have  been  im- 
ported into  these  delicate  questions,  the  satisfactory 
solution  of  which  can  only  be  brought  about  by 
calm  and  reasonable  discussion. 

Thus  on  the  one  side  we  learn  from  treaty-port 
papers  that  our  rights  of  carrying  on  trade  are  to 
be  abolished;  our  houses  are  no  longer  to  be  our 
castles;  we  are  to  be  subject  to  every  conceivable 
annoyance  and  inconvenience  at  the  hands  of  the 
Japanese  officials;  we  are  to  be  robbed,  squeezed, 
black-mailed,  etc.,  with  impunity,  and  dragged  before 

257 


R 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 


an  unjust  tribunal,  conducted  by  Asiatics  whose  only 
notion  of  meting  out  justice  to  the  hated  Westerner 
will  be  to  suppress  him  by  fair  means  or  foul. 

We  are  told  that  we  must  fight  against  this  sort 
of  oppression.  I should  think  we  must,  if  it  were  to 
exist.  We  must  teach  the  Japanese  that  a success- 
ful war  with  an  effete  nation  like  the  Chinese  does 
not  enable  them  to  ride  roughshod  over  the  rights 
of  the  white  man,  and  so  on,  and  so  on.  This  is 
the  gist  of  the  treaty-port  logic,  as  far  as  the  journals 
are  concerned;  and  it  is  all  very  well  as  far  as  it 
goes.  It  appertains  to  that  ever-popular  style  of 
cheap  patriotism  of  the  “ Britons  never  shall  be 
slaves”  class,  which,  however  sound  in  itself,  loses 
much  of  its  point  when  the  alleged  opposing  party 
has  neither  the  wish  nor  the  power  to  reduce  us  to 
that  unfortunate  condition. 

All  this,  however,  has  had  the  effect  of  causing 
certain  fiery  Japanese  orators  to  talk  of  “ enforcing’’ 
the  conditions  of  the  new  treaties;  and  agitations 
have  been  set  on  foot  with  a view  of  determining  the 
best  method  of  carrying  out  such  “ enforcement.”  If 
the  exaggerated  views  propounded  by  these  ultra 
anti-foreign  politicians  were  to  be  put  into  effect  the 
practice  of  the  working  of  the  new  treaties  would 
not  at  all  accord  with  the  theory  of  those  who  framed 
them. 

Thus  a great  deal  has  been  said  on  both  sides 
which  with  advantage  might  have  been  left  unsaid, 
and  it  is  a cause  for  satisfaction  to  find  that,  as  a 
rule,  the  responsible  politicians  and  diplomatists  who 

258 


OUR  PROSPECTS  UNDER  REVISED  TREATIES 


will  have  to  see  to  the  proper  carrying  out  of  this 
delicate  task  of  making  the  change  have  not  been  in- 
fluenced by  the  views  of  the  extremists  on  either  side. 

In  spite  of  all  the  alarmist  theories,  the  unprej- 
udiced man,  who  has  had  any  experience  of  the 
world  in  general,  cannot  make  up  his  mind  to  be 
vastly  uneasy  as  to  the  way  in  which  the  new  treaties 
will  operate. 

They  may  be  in  many  ways  unsatisfactory,  no 
doubt  they  are ; but  it  is  either  too  late  or  too  early 
to  talk  much  of  that  now;  for,  even  if  there  were 
a serious  wish  to  alter  them  on  one  or  other  side, 
there  is  not  the  slightest  probability  as  to  their  being 
modified  now  until  they  have  had  a fair  trial. 

Certain  local  foreigners  seem  to  hold  the  opinion 
that  with  the  abolition  of  our  extra-territorial  rights 
our  political  influence  in  Japan  will  be,  ipso  facto , 
abolished  with  them.  But  it  is  to  be  presumed 
that  our  diplomatic  and  consular  staff  will  be  per- 
fectly able  to  safeguard  the  interests  of  our  people 
living  in  Japan. 

As  pointed  out  in  another  chapter,  the  Japanese 
legal  code  is  an  excellent  one ; the  men  who  govern 
in  that  country  are,  as  a rule,  level-headed  and 
competent;  they  enforce  their  laws  equitably  and 
without  unduly  oppressive  measures  being  taken, 
and  they  are  beginning  to  recognize  that  the  for- 
eigner, however  little  they  may  like  him  as  an  in- 
stitution, is,  at  all  events,  a necessity — a necessity, 
that  is,  to  the  fulfilment  of  their  progressive  inter- 
national policy. 


259 


JAPAN  IN  TRANSITION 


Another  and  often  unnoticed  phase  of  this  ques- 
tion is  that,  while  we  (the  foreigners)  are  bitterly 
complaining  of  the  hardships  we  are  to  suffer  on  ac- 
count of  these  treaties,  the  Japanese  on  their  part  do 
not  consider  that  the  throwing  open  of  their  country 
will  by  any  means  be  an  unmixed  blessing  to  them. 

The  possession  of  extra-territorial  rights  by  the 
foreigner  has  for  years  past  been  a thorn  in  the  side 
of  Japanese  self-respect,  and  in  order  to  have  this 
abolished,  they  consider  that  they  have  given  a very 
substantial  quid  pro  quo  in  admitting  the  foreigner 
to  all  parts  of  their  Empire  on  an  equal  footing  with 
themselves. 

The  Japanese  are  said  to  wish  to  obtain  all  the 
advantages  of  the  opportunities  afforded  by  our 
civilization  without  incurring  any  of  its  drawbacks; 
they  would  have  foreign  capital  without  an  increase 
in  foreign  influence ; and  they  would  have  foreign 
trade  without  the  foreign  trader.  All  this  may  be 
very  natural,  though  it  is  undoubtedly  unreasonable. 
But  until  the  Japanese  have  solved  the  difficult 
problem  of  “ having  their  pudding  and  eating  it  ” 
they  will  not  be  able  at  once  to  modernize  them- 
selves and  blot  out  the  foreigner  and  his  influence. 

Thus  it  is  that  they  are  opening  their  country  to 
us ; but  they  are  doing  it  with  very  great  reluctance. 

No  doubt  in  its  initial  stages  the  forthcoming 
regime  may  fall  very  heavily  on  certain  individual 
traders,  for  the  conditions  of  trading  will  of  necessity 
be  revolutionized. 

The  great  and  overwhelming  advantage,  alike  to 

260 


OUR  PROSPECTS  UNDER  REVISED  TREATIES 


Japanese  and  to  foreigners,  to  be  found  in  the  pro- 
visions of  the  treaties,  lies  in  the  fact  that  life  under 
the  new  conditions  will  enable  each  to  know  more 
of  the  other,  as  international  intercourse  will  be  less 
restrained.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  result  will  be 
that  both  will  learn  to  know  and  respect  the  other 
more  than  at  present. 

If  such  is  to  be  the  case,  both  sides  will  have 
cause  to  congratulate  themselves ; and,  whatever 
may  be  the  eventual  solution  of  the  modern  policy 
of  the  Japanese  nation,  it  is  to  be  sincerely  hoped 
that  British  and  Japanese  interests  may  remain  as 
they  are  at  present — practically  identical. 

Let  us  hope,  too,  that  in  adopting  so  many  of  our 
Western  methods,  they  will  never  allow  to  die  out 
the  many  excellent  qualities  which  characterized  the 
Old  Japan,  that  Japan  which  we  are  so  often  told 
no  longer  exists — the  Japan  of  Mitford  and  Lafcadio 
Hearn ; a far  more  aesthetic  and  possibly  more  vir- 
tuous country  than  the  one  it  has  been  my  lot  to 
write  about  as  “Japan  in  Transition.” 

261 


THE  END 


BOOKS  ON  CHINA 


THE  BREAK-UP  OF  CHINA.  By  Lord  Charles  Beres- 
ford.  8vo,  Cloth,  Ornamental,  Uncut  Edges  and  Gilt  Top, 
$ 3 °°- 

By  all  odds  the  most  important  contribution  of  the  year  to  contemporary 
history  is  Lord  Charles  Bereford’s  “ The  Break-up  of  China.”  It  is  a book 
that  is  of  supreme  interest  not  only  to  statesmen,  merchants,  and  students  of 
political  and  commercial  affairs,  but  also  to  all  intelligent  readers.  The 
author  has  amassed  a fund  of  information  wholly  new  and  which  will  render 
his  book  indispensable.  No  writer  on  China,  alive  or  dead,  British  or  Amer- 
ican, has  enjoyed  the  advantages  which  Lord  Beresford  has  utilized  in  his 
book  with  such  signal  ability.  He  is  entirely  free  from  all  personal  bias, 
and  he  has  a human  and  a racy  method  of  stating  facts  which  will  appeal 
strongly  to  all  readers. 

Without  question  this  book  marks  a new  epoch  in  the  much  - discussed 
question  of  trade  in  the  Far  East,  because  for  the  first  time  the  people  of  the 
United  States  have  set  before  them  a calm,  straightforward  statement  of  the 
situation  in  the  East  to  - day,  of  the  difficulties  that  beset  the  foreign  mer- 
chant in  China,  and  of  the  close  connection  that  exists  there  between  diplo- 
matic aud  political  affairs. — N.  Y.  Times. 

CHINA  IN  TRANSFORMATION.  By  Archibald  R.  Col- 
quhoun.  With  Frontispiece,  Maps,  and  Diagrams.  8vo, 
Cloth,  Ornamental,  $3  00. 

It  is  published  most  opportunely,  and  gives  a most  valuable  summary  of 
the  situation,  commercial  and  political,  up  to  date,  with  opinions  and  sug- 
gestions by  a thoroughly  experienced  and  competent  expert. — The  Saturday 
Review,  London. 

ALONE  IN  CHINA,  and  Other  Stories.  By  Julian  Ralph. 
Illustrated  by  C.  D.  Weldon.  Post  8vo,  Cloth,  Ornamental, 
$2  00. 

Contents:  Introduction — House -boating  in  China:  Alone  in  China: 
Plum-blossom  : Beebe’s  Adventures  : The  Story  of  Miss  Pi  : The  “ Boss  ” 
of  Ling-Foo:  Little  Fairy’s  Constancy:  The  Love-Letters  of  Superfine 
Gold. 

Mr.  Ralph’s  book  is  a delightful  addition  to  our  literature  relative  to 
China,  and  is  sure  to  be  of  permanent  importance  and  value.  It  has  literary 
merit  of  a high  order. — Brooklyn  Eagle. 


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I 


BOOKS  ON  JAPAN 


NOTES  IN  JAPAN.  By  Alfred  Parsons.  Illustrated  by  the 
Author.  Crown  8vo,  Cloth,  Ornamental,  $3  00. 

Here  at  last  we  have  a book  on  Japan  that  is  as  profitable  as  it  is  unpre- 
tending. Mr.  Parsons’  narrative  of  his  wanderings  in  that  delightful  land  is 
artless,  in  the  usual  sense  of  the  word,  and  free  equally  from  padding  and 
from  exaggeration.  In  addition  it  is  really  illustrated,  not  with  smudgy  re- 
productions of  soulless  photographs,  but  with  carefully  executed  presentments 
of  his  own  sketches. — Athenceum,  London. 

Must  be  classed  among  the  most  elegant  books  of  travel  of  the  year.  The 
illustrations,  of  which  there  are  almost  as  many  as  pages  of  text,  are  supplied 
by  the  author,  whose  genius  and  skill  are  too  well  known  to  need  comment. 
All  that  is  curious  and  fanciful  in  Japan  he  saw  with  an  artist’s  eye,  and  with 
an  artist’s  skill  has  put  it  into  this  elegantly  printed  volume. — Bookseller , 
Newsdealer , and  Stationer , N.  Y. 

A unique  book,  full  of  charm  and  delight,  and  in  some  respects  unap- 
proachable.— Critic , N.  Y. 

JINRIKISHA  DAYS  IN  JAPAN.  By  Eliza  Ruhamah  Scid- 
more.  Illustrated.  Post  8vo,  Cloth,  Ornamental,  $ 2 00 ; 
Paper,  75  cents. 

It  is  a bright,  lively,  and  entertaining  picture  of  Japan  in  its  transition 
state  from  a feudal  and  hermit  nation  to  a modern  state  full  of  people,  who 
have  voluntarily  taken  upon  themselves  the  problem  of  adapting  Western 
civilization  to  essentially  Asiatic  conditions.  . . . The  chief  element  of 
freshness  in  it  is  the  author’s  sympathetic  knowledge  of  the  folk-lore  and 
history  of  the  land  and  people. — Nation , N.  Y. 

A most  excellent  and  readable  picture  of  life  in  Japan,  in  its  public  and 
in  its  most  intimate  aspects.  The  volume  is  very  brightly  and  chattily  written, 
and  is  one  of  the  most  vivid  and  entertaining  of  its  class. — Courier , Boston. 

The  volume  is  a timely  and  important  contribution  to  our  knowledge  of 
Japan,  containing  descriptions  of  the  most  interesting  localities  in  the  coun- 
try, with  chapters  on  a variety  of  entertaining  themes  connected  with  Japan- 
ese life  and  manners. — American  Bookseller , N.  Y. 

JAPANESE  HOMES  AND  THEIR  SURROUNDINGS. 
By  Edward  S.  Morse.  With  Illustrations  by  the  Author. 
New  Edition.  8vo,  Cloth,  Ornamental,  $3  00. 

The  style  is  easy,  and  the  author  knows  his  subject,  and  enlists  the  sym- 
pathy of  the  reader.  Above  all,  the  illustrations,  which  are  the  author’s  own, 
are  not  only  accurate  portraitures  of  the  ins  and  outs,  quaint  corners,  and 
novel  arrangements  of  a Japanese  interior,  but  are  really  beautiful  specimens 
of  xylography. — Spectator , London. 


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2 


BOOKS  ON  ASIA 


THROUGH  ASIA.  By  Sven  Hedin.  With  Two  Maps  and 
Four  Plates  Printed  in  Colors,  and  about  280  Illustrations  by 
the  Author  and  from  Photographs.  Two  Volumes.  Large 
8vo,  Cloth,  Ornamental,  Uncut  Edges  and  Gilt  Tops,  $10  00. 

There  is  not  a particle  of  doubt  that  in  these  magnificent  volumes  we 
have  the  most  important  contribution  to  Central  Asian  geography  that  has 
been  made  for  many  years. — Spectator,  London. 

One  cannot  read  many  pages  of  Dr.  Hedin’s  great  work  without  being 
conscious  that  he  maintains  an  exceptionally  lofty  level  both  as  an  observer 
and  as  a writer.  He  has  a high  conception  of  the  function  of  an  explorer 
and  is  not  unconscious  of  his  own  qualifications  to  fulfil  that  function.  It  is 
impossible  to  give  an  adequate  idea  of  the  richness  of  the  contents  of  his 
book  nor  of  its  abounding  attractions  as  a story  of  travel,  unsurpassed  in 
geographical  and  human  interest.  Altogether  the  work  is  one  which  in 
solidity,  novelty,  and  interest  must  take  a first  rank  among  publications  of 
its  class. — London  Times. 

IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  LAND.  An  Account  of  a Journey  into 
Tibet,  Capture  by  the  Tibetan  Lamas  and  Soldiers,  Impris- 
onment, Torture,  and  Ultimate  Release,  brought  about  by 
Dr.  Wilson  and  the  Political  Peshkar  Karak  Sing-Pal.  By  A. 
Henry  Savage  Landor.  With  the  Government  Enquiry 
and  Report  and  other  Official  Documents,  by  J.  Larkin, 
Esq.,  Deputed  by  the  Government  of  India.  With  One  Pho- 
togravure, Eight  Colored  Plates,  Fifty  Full -page  and  about 
One  Hundred  and  Fifty  Text  Illustrations,  and  a Map  from 
Surveys  by  the  Author.  Two  Volumes.  8 vo,  Cloth,  Orna- 
mental, Uncut  Edges  and  Gilt  Tops,  $9  00 

He  tells  a plain,  manly  tale  without  affectation  or  bravado,  and  it  is  a 
book  that  will  be  read  with  interest  and  excitement,  even  in  those  parts  of 
it  which  only  describe  a journey  through  an  unknown  region. — London  Times. 

A very  remarkable  work  from  whatever  point  of  view  it  may  be  read, 
and  one  which  will  insure  its  author  distinct  and  prominent  place  among 
European  travellers  of  the  nineteenth  century. — N.  Y.  Mail  and  Express. 

It  is  a book  easy  to  read  and  hard  to  put  down  for  the  scene  is  con- 
stantly changing,  the  action  is  full  of  surprises,  and  the  description  of  scenery 
enhances  the  significance  of  the  occurrences  described. — N.  V.  Tribune. 


HARPER  & BROTHERS,  Publishers 

NEW  YORK  AND  LONDON 

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3 


ARCTIC  TRAVELS 


A THOUSAND  DAYS  IN  THE  ARCTIC.  By  Frederick 
G.  Jackson.  Copiously  Illustrated  from  Photographs  and 
Drawings.  Maps.  8vo,  Cloth,  Uncut  Edges  and  Gilt  Top, 
$6  oo. 

This  is  the  history  of  the  now  famous  Jackson- Harms  worth  expedition, 
which  incidentally  found  Nansen  and  his  companion.  The  tale  is  told  with 
rare  felicity,  being  interesting  from  first  page  to  last — far  more  exciting  than 
the  best  story  of  adventure  ever  written.  The  illustrations  are  among  the 
best  ever  published  in  a story  of  this  kind. — N.  Y.  Mail  and  Express. 

It  is  an  unusual  story  of  pioneer  enterprise  and  adventure,  well  told  by 
a man  who  lived  so  long  among  the  scenes  he  depicts  as  to  know  them  thor- 
oughly.— N.  Y.  Sun. 

Mr.  Jackson  has  written  an  interesting  and  a modest  record,  which  is 
what  one  might  expect  from  an  interesting  and  a modest  man. — Chicago 
Tribune. 

FARTHEST  NORTH.  By  Fridtjof  Nansen.  Being  the 
Record  of  a Voyage  of  Exploration  of  the  Ship  Fram  (1893- 
1896),  and  of  a Fifteen  Months’  Sleigh  Expedition  by  Dr. 
Nansen  and  Lieutenant  Johansen.  With  an  Appendix  by 
Otto  Sverdrup,  Captain  of  the  Fram.  With  over  100  Full- 
page  and  Numerous  Text  Illustrations,  Sixteen  Colored 
Plates  in  Facsimile  from  Dr.  Nansen’s  own  Water-color,  Pas- 
tel, and  Pencil  Sketches,  an  Etched  Portrait,  Two  Photo- 
gravures, and  Four  Maps.  Two  Volumes.  Large  8vo,  Cloth, 
Uncut  Edges  and  Gilt  Tops,  $10  00;  Half  Leather,  $12  50; 
Three-quarter  Morocco,  $15  00.  Popular  Edition.  One 
Volume.  With  Sixteen  Illustrations.  8vo,  Cloth,  $3  00. 
Stanley’s  “Through  the  Dark  Continent”  is  the  only  work  of  recent 
years  that  can  compare  with  Nansen’s  in  importance,  daring,  and  adventure. 
— Chicago  Tribune. 

It  is  a story  that  will  live  through  age  after  age. — London  Chronicle. 

It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  the  book  is  a masterpiece  of  story-telling. 
— London  Times. 

Not  more  than  once  in  a generation,  if  as  often  as  that,  is  such  a narra- 
tive presented  to  the  world. — N.  Y.  Tribune. 


HARPER  & BROTHERS,  Publishers 

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part  of  the  United  States , Canada , or  Mexico , on  receipt  of  the  price. 

4 


. 


DATE  DUE 

T - 

GAYLORD 

PRINTED  IN  U.S.  A. 

